With the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC ruling on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, whereby Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared as the winner of the keenly contested Presidential Elections held on February 25th, 2023, Nigerians are advised to look forward to future elections as the court has made a pronouncement that should be binding to all the parties. The testing of the authenticity of the electoral results at the court in a way, was good after the parties were asked to go to court as provided in the electoral law.
This would teach some hardline politicians some lessons, that it may not be business as usual, especially those of them that are bent on rigging and running foul of the electoral law at will. Although the pronouncements of the five justices namely: Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, Justice Stephen Adah, Justice Mistura Bolaji Yusuf, Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo and Justice Abba Mohammed may not rule out yet, another push to the Supreme Court by the litigants within the next sixty days to finally determine if the decision of the Election Tribunal judgement should stand, given all variables. It has been an atmosphere of uncertainty in the country ever since the presidential elections took place seven months ago.
People voted to choose their preferred candidates, but the outcome of that election was heavily disputed. Both local and international observers also gave damning reports on how the election was conducted by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). INEC, under the leadership of Professor Mahmood Yakubu failed abysmally on the mandate of conducting free, fair and credible elections. This opened the flood gate to legal tussle and contestations by the parties involved. The Court in the recent times has been responsible for happenings in the political equation of Nigeria, owing to the lacuna created by the electoral umpire in performing its duties.
For example, the uneasy calm in Imo State for almost four years is blamed on the enthronement of Senator Hope Uzodimma who came fourth in an election, but today is the governor of that state, also the confirmation of Ahmad Lawan and Godswill Akpabio, who never participated in any senatorial primaries before the elections are today Senators of the Federal Republic, courtesy of the Supreme Court declarations. These are some of the issues that are still begging for answers before the court of the people which constitutes the bulk of voters.
We had pointed out in our previous submissions on this column that Nigerians have the onerous duty to protect the country and not to destroy it, given the circumstances we find ourselves in recent times, especially after the elections that brought the current regime to power. Technicalities in law may have been used to dismiss claims and counter claims, but one thing is certain, Nigerians are not prepared to go through this hurdle anymore, nor entertain the excuses of the electoral umpire which was provided with all financial support by the government to enhance its operations, but instead performed so badly that it resulted in the fireworks hitherto experienced in the political scene that nearly brought the country to a halt. Having put this case to rest by the pronouncements of the tribunal, we believe that lessons must have been learnt by the various political parties and actors, especially INEC which is at the centre of all the scandals that allegedly marred the 2023 elections.
With Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi States governorship elections coming in two months’ time, precisely November 11, 2023, it is believed that a repeat of what happened in February, where results were not transmitted in record time, and the so-called glitches that occurred during the elections would not rear its ugly head again. The contention of the results in court, in the case of Nigeria, is not the way to go. Electoral results are announced by the electoral umpire not necessarily by the court.
Further indulgence in this is a mockery to our professed democratic ideals, to say the least. We therefore expect the winners of this fiercely contested elections to settle down to work, at least to see if the people can actually breathe and be saved from the harrowing hunger currently being experienced in the country. The declaration of the PEPC, however, may have opened yet another chapter in the Nigeria legal system, and also a call for politicians to realise that the infamous slogan, “go to court” is not what the people want to hear when they must have performed their civic duties at the polling booths.
