Inconclusive elections: INEC guilty of double standards –PDP, lawyers

•Declare Tambuwal, others winners now –Lawyer
•No basis for re-run in six states
•Electoral Act inferior to Nigeria’s Constitution

Legal fireworks are imminent as some lawyers and politicians
have faulted the Independent Electoral Commission’s declaration of
elections inconclusive in Sokoto and five other states
unconstitutional, urging the electoral umpire to announce leading
candidates’ winner of the elections.

The electoral commission, on Tuesday declared the governorship
election inconclusive in Kano, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa and
Sokoto states, predicating its action on provisions of the
Electoral Act 2010, (As Amended), and picked March 23 for a rerun
in the affected states and ordered a rerun in some areas. The
INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter
Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, relied on Section 26 of the Electoral
Act, 2010 (as amended) and Clause 47(e) of the Regulations and
Guidelines of the Commission.

The Section says: “Where the margin of win between the two
leading candidates is not in excess of the total number of
registered voters of the polling unit(s) where the election was
cancelled or not held, the returning officer shall decline to make
a return until another poll has taken place in the affected polling
unit(s) and the result incorporated into the existing one.”

In Sokoto State, the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship
candidate, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal scored 489,558 as against the All
Progressives Congress’ counterpart, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu’s 486,090,
the former leading the latter with 3,468. Rejected votes was 30,
082 Similarly, the PDP governorship candidate in Kano State, Alhaji
Abba Yusuf polled 1,014,474 while Governor Umar Ganduje of the APC
garnered 987,819; the former leading by about 16,000; just as the
APC candidate in Plateau State, Simon Lalong won with 583,255 votes
while Jeremiah Useni of the PDP scored 538,826.

APC led by a margin of 44,929. Rejected votes in Plateau were
16,691. A prominent constitutional lawyer, who refused to be named
because he is holding brief for one of the clients on one of the
cases, described INEC’s fixing of rerun polls in the six states a
violation of the Constitution, adding that the commission should
have declared the leading candidates in the respective states
winners.

The lawyer posited their declaration on Section 179 (2), and
INEC’s action based on its Electoral Act cannot invalidate
constitutional provisions, which is the grand num of the country,
in conformity with Section 1 (3): “If any other law is inconsistent
with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall
prevail, and that other law shall, to the extent of the
inconsistency, be void.”

Section 2 (2) says: “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
onequarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of
all the local government areas in the State.”

A group has also called for compliance with constitutional
provisions on the issue. Leading a campaign
#StandingByOurConstitution, #INECDontBendTheLaw and
#ConstitutionIsSupreme, they said in particular: “Has Tambuwal’s
PDP met with the above mentioned Constitutional requirements for
one to be declared winner in the governorship election in Nigeria?
Yes!

“How? (1) Tambuwal /PDP has the highest number of votes cast in
election for the Sokoto State Governor and thereby fulfilled
Constitutional provision as provided by Section 179(2)(a) where the
constitution stated that the person must have scored the highest
number of votes cast at the election. Tambuwal is leading with this
result: PDP-489,558 APC-486,090. “(2) Again, Tambuwal has fulfilled
Constitutional requirements as provided by section 179(2)(b) as it
concerns get up to 25 per cent in the 2/3 of the LGAs in Sokoto
State.

His votes spread across the LGAs of the state and thereby
fulfilling the constitutional requirements for him to be declared
winner.

“So why did INEC declare his supposed victory inconclusive, (a)
INEC cited cancellation of 136 polling units for such reasons.
Since Section 179(2) has been fulfilled, Onyia submitted that
INEC’s inconclusiveness is already inconsequential because
Tambuwal/PDP has fulfilled the constitutional requirements for him
to be returned re-elected. “Some are citing Electoral Act to back
INEC’s current stand in Sokoto forgetting that no law or act in
Nigeria is superior to the content of the constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

For example, Section 1(3) has destroyed effort of the INEC in
their quest to insist on Inconclusiveness of the Sokoto State
Governorship election. So what is INEC waiting from declaring
Tambuwal?” it asked. Ikechukwu Onyia, a party chieftain in Anambra
State said INEC should declare the leading governorship candidates
winner for the same reason he announced the election President
Muhammadu Buhari.

“In the presidential election, Muhammadu Buhari scored
15,191,847 votes, compared to Atiku Abubakar’s 11,262,978, and the
margin between both votes was 3.9 million, while the number of
votes cancelled was 5.5million, but Buhari was declared winner
without a rerun. It is therefore amounts to double standards to
order rerun in the current states,” he said.

In another instance, a National Vice Chairman of the PDP, Dr.
Eddy Olafeso, said INEC’s action in the state amounts to electoral
fraud and selective application of the Act in collusion between the
APC and INEC in order to subvert the will of the people.

“Why did they not make a universal application of the Act, but
only where PDP is in the lead? In Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, of the
APC scored 241,670 votes to defeat Adekunle Akinlade of the APM who
polled 222,153, leaving a margin of 19,517, whereas the number of
cancelled votes is 25,670. Yet the Ogun governorship election was
not declared inconclusive but given to APC?

The PDP had condemned INEC’s order for rerun, stating that the
electoral body has become overtly partisan, surrendered its
independence to the APC “and carried on as a compromised umpire
with obnoxious impunity…” Speaking through its National Publicity
Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said it “has full
intelligence of how INEC is acting on instructions from the Buhari
Presidency and the APC in orchestrating unwholesome situations and
declaring already concluded governorship elections in Sokoto,
Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau as well as other states as inconclusive,
immediately it became obvious that the PDP was set to win.”

Olafeso added that elections in those states have been concluded
and all the governorship candidates should be declared winner,
otherwise, it will be a confirmation of suspicion that APC and INEC
plotted to subvert the popular will of the people and with that
President Muhammadu Buhari will go down in history as someone who
presided over the most corrupt election in Nigeria.

He also called for the resignation of INEC Chairman, Prof.
Mahmood Yakubu, because “he compromised and presided over a
historically debased election, but I know that history will not be
kind to him.” However, Chief Raph Uwazurike, Lagos lawyer and
former President of Aki Ikenga said INEC still acted within the
ambit of the law by declaring the election inconclusive at
operational level, because it still has the jurisdiction. However,
he added that INEC erred in law by what he described as
“approbation and reprobation,” meaning selective application of the
rules to suit the interest of particular political parties and
candidates , as manifested in the governorship election Ogun State
and the presidential elections.