Election Tribunals: Group cautions judiciary against using technicalities to subvert people’s will

The Partnership for Issues-based Campaign in Nigeria (PICaN) on Wednesday cautioned the Nigerian Judiciary against using technicalities to pervert what it called the “popular and freewill” of Nigerians.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday, the National President of PICaN, Comrade Bako Abdul Usman who also doubled as the National President of Campaign for Democracy warned that, the recent outcomes of governorship election petition tribunals in Kano and other States are putting Nigeria’s democracy under unnecessary pressure.

The group however called for an immediate overhaul of Nigerian electoral and judicial systems to salvage the situation before things get out of hand.

According to him, “our democracy in Nigeria is under serious threat. Some of the recent tribunal judgments across the country have exposed this disturbing reality.

“Nothing short of a total overhaul of our electoral and judicial system is required to salvage it. We need to bring to an end the era of the judiciary using technicalities to subvert the popular and free will of the people”, he said.

To salvage the electoral process, the group called for the full adoption of the Justice Muhammad Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report which if implemented would improve the entire electoral system with emphasis on strengthening the legal frameworks and enhancing the independence of the electoral body.

Usman said specifically that there is a need to close the gaps by amending Section 64 (4), (5) of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) on the transmission of the data of accreditation recorded, votes, and results of the election recorded.

“Therefore, there is an urgent need for an amendment to mandate INEC to transmit results electronically from polling units promptly that improves the credibility of the polls and collation of results”, he said.

According to Usman, “on Wednesday, September 22, 2023, the governorship election petition tribunal in Kano State sacked Abba Yusuf, a member of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) as the governor of the State.

“The judgment delivered by the tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Abba Yusuf.

“The Tribunal also affirmed Yusuf Gawuna of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the Kano State after earlier declared as the Second runner at the March 11 gubernatorial election.

“Let us reminisce that at the polls, the NNPP candidate Abba Yusuf had a vote of 1,019,602 to defeat his close rival of the APC Gawuna who got 890,705 votes. During the proceeding, the Tribunal deducted 165,663 votes from the votes recorded for Abba Yusuf of the NNPP on the ground that ballot papers were not stamped and signed as required by law.

“The judiciary is supposed to be the last hope of every common man and that is why all eyes are on the judiciary to play a key role in sustaining this hard-earned democracy and should not be perceived as the institution undermining the will of the people”, he added.

The group however called on the security agencies who have arrested citizens in Kano State to understand that protest is another way to express their heartfelt expectations and desires, so the agencies should prioritise investigating those wrongly arrested and set them free.

“To restore the confidence of the people in democracy, security institutions should investigate and bring the perpetrators of the fraud that was highlighted in the judgment (unstamped and unsigned ballot papers) to justice”.

Credit: The Guardian