INEC Chairman, CJN Meet To Discuss 2023 General Elections

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and the National Commissioners met with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola and other senior judicial officers at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

As disclosed on its Facebook page, the INEC said the meeting was “part of efforts to strengthen existing collaboration between the Commission and the Judiciary.”

The meeting is coming about 24 days to the 2023 General Elections.

The meeting is germane because when it comes to final outcomes of election results, the courts have a role to play in interpreting the constitution and other relevant laws when disputes arise.

The Supreme Court is the highest court of the land, and according to the 1999 Constitution, “The decisions of the Supreme court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme Court.”

Furthermore, the Commission would hold the forthcoming election with the Electoral Act 2022.

Earlier, the Commission stated that it is set to conduct the polls.

“In accordance with the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the Commission on Monday 30th January published the “Notice of Poll”, the 12th out of 14 activities on the schedule. This leaves only 2 more activities: Last Day of Campaigns (23rd Feb for Presidential/National Assembly and 9th March for Governorship/State House of Assembly elections); and that of Election (25th Feb for Presidential/National Assembly and 11th March for Governorship and State House of Assembly elections).”

The Electoral Act now allows the deployment of a new tool, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is an electronic device that reads Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), for voters accreditation.

Also, the reviewed legislation in Section 134 states that “An election may be questioned on any of the following grounds— (a) a person whose election is questioned was, at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election ; (b) the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices or noncompliance with the provisions of this Act ; or (c) the respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.”

Also, the act rests the outcome of election results on the judiciary.

Section 135 and 136 of the Electoral Act partly reads, “ (1) An election shall not be liable to be invalidated by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of this Act if it appears to the Election Tribunal or Court that the election was conducted substantially in accordance with the principles of this Act and that the non-compliance did not affect substantially the result of the election.

“(2) An election shall not be liable to be questioned by reason of a defect in the title or want of title of the person conducting the election or acting in the office provided such a person has the right or authority of the Commission to conduct the election.

“(3) No election shall be questioned or cancelled by reason that there is a mistake, conflict or inconsistency in the date contained in the result of such election signed by a returning officer or any other officer of the Commission.

“(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), if the Tribunal or the Court as the case may be, determines that a candidate who was returned as elected was not validly elected on any ground, the Tribunal or Court shall nullify the election and order the Commission to conduct a fresh election not later than 90 days after the— (a) decision if an appeal is not filed against the decision ; or (b) nullification of the election by the court having final appellate jurisdiction in respect of the said election.

“Where an election tribunal or court nullifies an election on the ground that the person who obtained the highest votes at the election was not qualified to contest the election, the election tribunal or court shall declare the person with the second highest number of valid votes cast at the election who satisfies the requirements of the Constitution and this Act as duly elected : Provided that the person with the second highest number of valid votes cast at the election remains a member of the political party on which platform he contested the election otherwise, the candidate with the next highest number of votes in the election and who satisfies the same conditions shall be declared the winner of the election.

“If the tribunal or the court determines that a candidate who was returned as elected was not validly elected on the ground that he did not score the majority of valid votes cast at the election, the election tribunal or the Court, as the case may be, shall declare as elected the candidate who scored the highest number of valid votes cast at the election and satisfied the requirements of the Constitution and this Act.

“All objections filed in an election petition shall be determined at the time of final judgment.”