As May 29 swearing-in of declared winners of the 2023 general elections draws nearer, some Nigerians claim the new Electoral Law is flawed by allowing the inauguration of winners whose victories are being contested in courts.
A few also blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for ‘deliberately’ working against its own guidelines. According to them, the myriads of election litigations in the aftermath of the general elections are orchestrated by INEC’s compromises during the polls.
Nze Kanayo Chukwumezie, a civil rights activist, told our correspondent on Saturday that, “Election that was held on February 25th, and hearing starting on 8th May is just a waste of two months.
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“Our constitution or whatever stipulates six months’ hearing of election cases should have made the election to take place more than six months before the handover. This will ensure the case is ended before handover.
“Our country is full of avoidable obstacles which we put there to ensure that things never work well. We see things working well without stress as a taboo, and that is very unfortunate. It is the same in everything done in Nigeria, and it our cause of backwardness as a country.”
Publicity secretary, Labour Party, Enugu State, Comrade Ibuchukwu Ohabuenyi Ezike, stated that, “Not concluding electoral litigations before swearing in winners whose victories are being contested is promotion of corruption, injustice and rape of democratic principles because as we have witnessed in this country, people who didn’t win elections here have lasted in political offices they didn’t win for years because of this worthless Act or policy.
“I belong to the class of Nigerians who prefer that the whole legal electoral processes are concluded before the swearing-in of the elected persons into office.”
Osmond Onuh, an author and political scientist, said, “Nigeria’s 2023 general elections have come and gone. The battle ground has now shifted to the judiciary where the legal fireworks have commenced.
“But personally, I am not comfortable with the six months’ timeline it will take court to decide election matters in Nigeria. I, like many other Nigerians, are of the view that election matters supposed to have been concluded before the swearing-in of any elected official whose position is being contested. The general notion is that the judiciary would be compromised once the person you are deliberating against is the person paying you.
“The general belief was that the Electoral Act 2018, as amended, would take care of this, but unfortunately, it was not so. Being in court with someone who controls all the levers of power is tantamount to fighting a man with AK 47 with a bare hand.
“We are aware of how the electorate trooped out en masse to cast their votes in numbers, believing that the BVAS will be the game-changer in 2023, but it wasn’t so. If INEC could be compromised when the person was just a contestant, is it now that the person holds the political power that you will get fair justice?”
Recall that Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, told THE WHISTLER in Enugu on Friday that, “It’s a constitutional aberration not to swear in INEC-declared winners in the 2023 elections on May 29”, describing it as ‘perplexing’.
Ikpeazu’s view is contrary to that of Nigeria’s foremost constitutional lawyer, Aloy Ejimakor.
Ejimakor told our correspondent that, “If the result declared by INEC does not accord with the Electoral Act, it then follows that such result does not, ipso facto, accord with the Constitution, because the Electoral Act is a product of (and subservient to) the Constitution – the grundnorm. The river never flows backwards. Thus, any repugnancy in the Electoral Act must yield to the demands of the Constitution.
“Thus, by virtue of Section 1(2) of the constitution, inaugurating a new President on May 29 while the Court (as the final umpire) is yet to call the final result would mean that persons (or a group of persons) have taken control of the Government of Nigeria in a manner that does not accord with the Constitution.
“If a new President is sworn-in on May 29 and subsequently, the Tribunal or the Supreme Court (again: the final umpire) invalidates the election, what would you say happened to the Government of Nigeria during the period the sacked President held office before the final judgment?”