THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has decided to go to court to challenge what it says is the illegal declaration of September 22, 2018, Osun governorship election as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party insisted in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, that the polls have already been concluded and results announced in all polling and the collation centres, thus bringing the exercise to its lawful conclusion and removing INEC powers to declare the election inconclusive.
It observed that the nation’s electoral law is clear that once an election result is declared, INEC is bound to return a winner.
The statement added: “INEC, in trying to play the card of the defeated All Progressives Congress (APC), contravened the law by refusing to announce a return, even when the declared results have thrown up a winner.
“Section 69 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) states that inter-alia ‘in an election to the office of the President or governor whether or not contested and in any contested election to any other elective office, the result shall be ascertained by counting the votes cast for each candidate and subject to the provisions of sections 133, 134 and 179 of the constitution, the candidate that receives the highest number of votes shall be declared elected by the appropriate Returning Officer.’
“Concurrently, Section 179 (2), (a) (b) of the constitution directly prescribes that ‘a candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being two or more candidates – (a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election; and (b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.’
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“INEC’s action in declaring a concluded election as inconclusive is, therefore, an annulment, totally duplicitous, constitutionally illegal, ultra-vires and as such null and void.”
The PDP, therefore, demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Osun State Governorship Election Returning Officer, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, for succumbing to the pressure of the APC and declaring a decided election as inconclusive.
It also demanded that INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu should immediately summon the courage to do the needful by declaring our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as the winner.
PDP further stated: “It is completely ludicrous, that INEC and the APC are now attempting to divert the narrative from the substance of the election by making outlandish allegations against the PDP and lobbying Civil Society Organizations and Electoral Observers to validate their illegality.
“Moreover, even if the Osun governorship election is conducted over and over again, the PDP will still win as the people of the state have chosen the PDP and its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke. Nevertheless, we insist that the September 22, 2018 election, under our laws, is conclusive and our candidate must be declared the winner.”
GOOD
That is the biggining of their failure people destroy people
From your thinking oga sir
Awe Olugbenga Odunayo yes sir
Good, Apc is a thief
Awe Olugbenga Odunayo That guy is a slave and a fool
When it happened in Kogii state in 2015, nobody went to court
INEC declares Kogi governorship election inconclusive
November 22, 2015Hassan Adebayo
The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi state inconclusive.
According to results declared by the Returning Officer, Emmanuel Kucha (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi), Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress scored 240,867 while Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party garnered 199,514 votes.
Mr. Kucha said the margin of votes between Messrs Audu and Wada is 41,353. And that the election was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units, in 18 local government areas, where election was cancelled is 49,953.
That figure is higher than the 41,353 votes with which Mr. Audu is ahead of Mr. Wada.
The returning officer said by INEC guideline, no return could be made for the election until supplementary election is held in areas where election was cancelled.
Good
Nice one and they should stay away from runoff. Fool, they are.
Victor Edos your dressing shows it all that you are a stupid man and a poor man .Ole moroko
Nice move
Nice move
The last kick of a dying horse, it is going to be thrown out by the court and marked as “academic exercise.”
9ice step
Let them boycott the re run election
Good
Inec are myopic quick to forget history of re election in Kogi re run n election that bring David mark in benue state
The margin of void Votes in this relationship re-election in these 2 two states were high compared to that of Osun inec declare the resuit
Why change the law now when election hold????? Is unfortunate we have a president that do not understand the rule of law with low knowledge of understanding of demogracy
Smart game it’s certainly not possible for PDP to win rerun. If you consider areas where those are to take place. Meanwhile what
Would they say in court. IN taraba PDP was beneficiary if inconclusive, it has happened in bayelsa bcoz one local govt. Brass, PdP was beneficiary, the same thing happened in kogi. Why
Sudden court approach. They have run the calculations no way to meet up
This is what I am waiting to hear
PDP stays away from Thursday rerun in the affected areas . You have won and wait for court to declare your Candidate.
Nice move…enough of all this evil act from buhari and APC
The same way u did in kogi state in 2015
They have started again, instead of you to go back to ur drawing board. It very constitution to declare such. Stop rubbish.
Since they are going to court I hope they will not partake in the supplementary election?
Edwin Osayande ur level dey Yaba left
Kenny Mosad which one be Yaba left again ooo brother?
HELP,HELP,A COMPROMISED INEC IS MURDERING NIGERIA’S HARD EARNED DEMOCRACY.
BY CHIEF MIKE OZEKHOME,SAN,OFR,FCIArb,Ph.D
The announcement by INEC,that the Osun state election conducted on Saturday,22nd September2018,was inconclusive and the fixing of 27th of September for a so called rerun,is a dangerous subversion and travesty of the electoral process,a blow to our hard earned constitutional democracy and an ominous sign of the farce to expect in 2019-subversion of the people’s will.INEC has earned for itself the inglorious reputation of holding inconclusive elections (Kogi,Bayelsa,et al);and working in cahoot with the ruling APC party,always eager to do its dirty electoral bidding,to commit daylight robbery of votes.This they have just done to Adeleke’s votes to defeat the will and legitimate franchise of the good people of Osun state.I wholly condemn this ludicrous mockery of our electoral process and constitutionalism.There is no basis whatsoever,whether in law,constitutionalism,or morality,to have declared the election inconclusive.The Constitution of Nigeria and the Electoral Act ONLY recognise LAWFUL AND VALID VOTES in declaring a candidate winner of an election.This presupposes that some votes would be unlawful and invalid.Consequently,where votes are cancelled or invalidated for any reason howsoever,including for being invalid and unlawful,such votes are immediately and automatically cancelled,deducted and consigned to the dustbin of history.In any case,it was not wholesale results in the election that were voided and cancelled.Only votes that INEC had adjudged illegitimate due to irregularities were voided and cancelled.This cancellation and voidance of illegitimate votes effected all the political parties,not just APC and PDP,but especially Omisore’s SDP,whose two strongest fortes in Ife axis were badly effected.Such voided votes are ignored and unreckoned with,for they are a non sequitur.They are as dead as dodo.Having failed to viciously intimidate and rig the elections as they did in Ekiti State,due to the people’s courageous resistance,the APC has now used its electoral arm,INEC,to do the unthinkable,that which is clearly illegal,unconstitutional,immoral and a brazen assault on our sensibilities and constitutional democracy.
Section 179(2)(a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (the grundnorm and supreme law of the land ),is crystal clear and unambiguous that Adeleke and PDP have won and met the electoral requirements to be formally declared winners of the Osun state election.It provides:
“A candidate for an election to the office of a governor of a state shall be deemed to have been duly elected where,there being two or more candidates-(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election;and
(b) he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state”. Adeleke satisfied this provision.
In Osunbor v Oshiomhole (2007) 18 NWLR(part 1065) 32,cancelled votes had been counted and added to PDP/Osunbor’s scores.The courts,up to the Supreme Court,held that when votes are cancelled,they are not reckoned with in determining the outcome of such an election.The courts thereafter deducted the invalidated votes and this gave victory to Oshiomhole in the hotly contested election.To avoid disenfranchisement of eligible voters,only votes in areas where election did not hold at all are considered for the purpose of calculating total votes.Some people may argue,ignorantly,in my humble opinion,that section 69 of the Electoral Act or other guidelines issued by INEC justify this electoral perversion.I will quickly remind such people that those provisions or guidelines are subject to the overriding authority of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution,which is supreme.The Constitution is the Kabiyesi,Eze and Emir,in the hierarchy of Nigerian laws.All others are like Bales and Chiefs,that must bow before this king.The provisions of the Constitution therefore clearly override the provisions of the Electoral Act and any guidelines issued by INEC,by virtue of sections 1() and 1(3) of the 1999 Constitution.They are consequently null and void to the extent of the inconsistency.See the celebrated case of Nyesom Wike v Dakuku Petersude (2016) 7 NWLR (part 1512) 574.It is clear to me that INEC ‘s decision is more of a political hubris than one anchored on solid laws,whether the Constitution,or Electoral Act.
Collation of all the results in Osun had already been done by INEC in accordance with section 27(1)(a)(v)) and (c) of the Electoral Act, 2010,as altered.The state collation was completed under section 27(d) and the results ought to have declared Adeleke the winner under section 27(f),having polled 256,219 majority votes to beat APC’s candidate who scored 255,309 votes.The provisions of section 69 of the Electoral Act(which in any case,is inferior to section 179(2)) of the Constitution,were thus amply satisfied.The constitutional,legal and moral profanity that INEC has thus engaged by ordering a repeat election is to invalidate the people’s valid and legitimate votes,in strange preference for legally voided illegitimate votes that no longer mattered or counted.TheReturning Officer’s duty was simply to announce the winner,having declared all the results,and not to usurp the role of the Election Petition Tribunal,by altering the texture and tenor of the outcome,through its order for a rerun.What happens to the legitimate votes of the other candidates who will not participate in the rerun and their electors’ will,one may ask?
By the way,why is INEC changing the goal posts and revising history because APC was roundly defeated in the election? Recall that during the Kogi state bye elections of August,2018,over 19 000 votes were cancelled and voidedThis tremendously outstripped the 12,000 votes difference between the two leading candidates.Yet,in Osun state,only 3,498 votes were cancelled in Orolu,Ife South,Ife North and Osogbo LGAs.How can that affect the humongous votes ganered by Adeleke? PDP and Adeleke should immediately head for the courts to seek an order of mandamus,compelling INEC to declare him winner.Alternatively, he can approach the Election Petition Tribunal with all the votes cast,urging it to declare him winner.He has won his people’s hearts with his performance in the Senate and mesmerising dance steps of a teenager. INEC,I beg of you,don’t kill our hard earned constitutional democracy on the alter of corruption and official comprise of the ruling party.
I can’t stop laughing… You add to PDP problem
They are going to court and still strategies on winning the re-run on Thursday with Saraki visit to Omisore ?
Why the rush let’s Thursday come
Can PDP go to court and still go on with the process that INEC have put in place.Let’s respect the umpire verdict and wait for their final pronouncements please
something is doggy with PDP. It seems they are involve in the snatching of electoral materials where the rerun will take place. What are they afraid of when they are leading?
failed
How long shall this Fulani terrorist government last with their agent of terror apc Buhari lifeless president of Fulani headsmen terrorist group?
Wasted effort. Prepare for re run
On the controversial inconclusive election of Osun gubernatorial election Barr. Inibehe Effiong has this to say?
Rather than dissipate energy on legality of the decision of INEC to declare Osun election inconclusive, the parties should prepare for the re-run. The Supreme Court has never nullified an election. Re-run, though a creation of INEC Guidelines, has been validated by the Courts.
In terms of Section 179 of the Constitution, Senator Adeleke ought to be declared as the governor of Osun State. But INEC Guidelines empowers the Commission to declare election inconclusive where the margin between the winner and 1st runner-up is lesser than cancelled votes.
Recent guber elections in Abia, Kogi, Bayelsa, INEC declared the elections inconclusive despite the emergence of a winner. In Abia, the Court of Appeal said INEC cannot do so when a winner has emerged but the Supreme Court gave judicial approval for re-run/inconclusive elections.
2015 INEC Guidelines, pages 22 – 23, Paragraph 4, Section N issued pursuant to Section 153 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) empowers INEC to declare election inconclusive where the margin of victory is less than the number of registered voters in cancelled Polling Units.
Can PDP challenge the decision of INEC? They can, but nothing will come out of it going by the reasons given by the Commission. PDP should prepare for the rerun and not dissipate energy and resources on fruitless legal niceties.
Under our current electoral jurisprudence, everything is against the Petitioner.