Atiku & Buhari. |
There
are several issues arising from the way and manner the much-talked about 2019
elections were conducted and the results handled. In the view of most
Nigerians, there a lot of transparency issues which goes to highlight several
underhand dealings involving the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC). In fact, there is the prevailing view that the electoral umpire was
anything but independent.
That
INEC under its present management and the political leadership of the nation
are involved in an unholy alliance which makes mockery of our democracy is
captured by the dilly-dally way the commission has been going about the Court
decisions requiring the electoral body to furnish the complainants in the case
in the persons of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the latter’s
presidential candidate with materials and documents used in the conduct of the
2019 elections. These documents and materials are critical to enabling the PDP
and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to help build their case of negligence
and possibly, collusion against the electoral body.
Aside,
the litigants, the materials and documents used in the elections are public
documents which should be available in case of need by citizens who seek
answers on the way the elections were conducted for their education and
enlightenment. The reluctance of INEC to furnish the complainants with these
documents several months after the elections and despite a court order to the
bargain, leaves much to be desired. Nigerians are wondering what kind of INEC
we now have and why is INEC not improving after its above average performance
during the 2015 elections.
INEC
has furnished Nigerians with all sorts of cooked up stories on its stewardship
of the 2019 polls. From its server and electronic collation, and the use of
card reader, fingers have pointed to an electoral umpire that is enmeshed in
corruption, collusion and confusion and which despite huge funding chose to
disappoint millions of Nigerians by its shoddy conduct of the elections.
This
writer feels sorry for President Muhammadu Buhari, whose integrity and
anti-corruption claims have been badly dented by INEC’s gross inefficiency and
suspected collaboration with the corrupt ruling party, the All Progressives
Congress (APC). The ruling party is now jittery, as the pre-trial hearings of
the election petition filed by the PDP and Atiku Abubakar are set to commence.
Second,
the important and critical nature of the electoral petition means that judicial
officers who would be saddled with the responsibility of deciding the petitions
by hearing arguments from both sides are crucial. To ensure that justice is
done and to create the necessary confidence in the litigants and the average
Nigerian citizen that indeed justice has been done and for the judiciary to
retain its hallowed reputation as a reliable temple of justice, any judge whose
presence at the sitting of the tribunal will create the smallest doubt, or side
talk or snide comment that will tar the judiciary, should not be allowed to sit
on the case. This is without prejudice to the position of the judge concerned
in the hierarchy of the Court or tribunal.
Therefore,
based on the above, if the spouse or family member of a member of the tribunal
is remotely or indirectly linked to the case by way of interest or benefit, for
the sake of fairness and justice, such a judge should recuse herself or himself
from sitting on the case and take part in the latter’s determination.
What
I mean above, is that if any of the judges is a son, daughter, uncle, niece or
husband or wife of a top office holder or highly exposed member of either the
PDP or APC party, who would be happy at the outcome of the case between the two
parties in the petition, such a judge in the interest of equity and fairness,
should not sit on the case, even if the tribunal is short of judges! The reason
for this is that it is better to ensure that all interested parties and the
general public are satisfied to a large extent on the reliability of the
outcome of the petition than to risk doubt in the minds of the litigants and
the public on the outcome because of the perception of likelihood of bias.
Following
the above, the Honourable Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, being the spouse of many
years of APC Senator-elect, Adamu Bulkachuwa, makes her an interested party and
someone whose presence on the panel would necessarily compromise the final
outcome of the case in the eyes of the Nigerian people and especially, the
parties to the case. Therefore, Justice Bulkachuwa, should recuse herself from
the sitting of the tribunal to ensure the protection of the integrity of the
tribunal and the credibility of the decision of same.’
It
is also interesting to note that before the 2019 elections, a candidate for a
legislative seat at the federal level from Bauchi State actually boasted that
if he were elected into the National Assembly, he would push for legislation to
ensure a life Presidency for President Muhammadu Buhari.
Some
have started to insinuate that it is because of Justice Bulkachuwa’s
participation in an election petition case involving the political party of her
husband and partner of many years, the APC, that a gag order was imposed on the
media in the reportage of the proceedings of the tribunal. There is no sane and
free country, where the judiciary deemed the last hope of the common man and of
democracy, imposes restrictions on the work of the media except where such
restrictions can be shown to be for the common good and to enhance the delivery
of justice.
I
am of the view that such restrictions should be lifted, especially as one
expects that as a responsible and upright judge, Justice Bulkachuwa will not
hesitate to recuse herself to save the impartiality of the tribunal and the
Judiciary, at large.
On
its part, the INEC has done an extreme damage to democracy in Nigeria and the
confidence of Nigerians in their institutions. The electoral umpire has removed
the toga of umpire conferred on it by the Nigerian Constitution and taken on a
dangerous partisan garb. As many are wont to say, this particular INEC and its
senior management is the worst so far in our experience in conducting
elections. INEC collected huge sums of money from the Federal Government with a
view to organize a free, fair and credible election via the deployment of
credible technology, only for Nigerians to be told stories forcing the opposition
candidate in the 2019 presidential election and its candidate, Atiku Abubakar
to head to Court to seek justice.
To
show that they are incorrigible, INEC so far, has behaved in a primitive
fashion, failing to obey the others of the Court and in the view of many
Nigerians, releasing statements that are patently unbelievable in the minds of
Nigerians. It would just be right at the end of the election petition hearing
and judgment to subject the INEC management to a thorough probe.
Louis
Okoroma, a Public Affairs Analyst wrote from Abuja.
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