As the Supreme Court throws Nigerians into jubilation mode and sets the judiciary on the path of redemption, it is imperative to note that it is not yet Uhuru.
The people of Kaduna, Nassarawa and Ogun states are looking up to the Supreme Court to help reclaim their mandates. The sanctity of the wishes and aspirations of voters expressed through the ballot should be the primary concern of the courts, and the court, therefore, should be interested in doing justice to the masses, no matter the administrative or technical errors by lawyers associated with an election petition. The recent judgments in respect of Kano, Zamfara, and Plateau States‘ governorship elections, and specific comments by the Hon. Justice Paul Agim, JSC, in respect of the Plateau and Kano states governorship election petition, that “The legal profession should wake up or it will render itself irrelevant in the eyes of the people with this type of judgement from the Appeal Court,” which was reinforced by the Hon. Justice, Inyang Okoro, wherein he also said, „Judges should be more meticulous in doing their job, no matter the pressure, this is to avoid the mess that happened at the court below.
Democracy anywhere in the world can only thrive when the votes of the electorates can count or are counted. Election outcomes, therefore, or outcomes of litigations over the same, must reflect this simple reality. Failure by the courts to do justice to the electorates when the electoral umpire conspires with politicians to compromise the process would not only be cruel but a recipe for disaster because, as the French philosopher and jurist Baron De Montesquieu put it, “there is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”
Across the length and breadth of Kaduna state, the recent Supreme Court judgments have rekindled hope, with prayers and fasting sessions organised for God‘s intervention and also for the courage by their Lordships to sustain the tempo at the Supreme Court.
From Birnin Gwari to Kaduna South, Giwa to Kagarko, and Lere to Sanga, among others, there abound a plethora of evidence submitted to the tribunal.
In the case of the Kukui Ward, elections were peacefully conducted in all the polling units, and results were announced and posted to the IREV portal. However, it was reported by the INEC that due to violence at the ward collation center, the entire results of the ward were cancelled, which is contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC guidelines. Under the electoral guidelines, since INEC had announced the result at the polling units and issued duplicate original copies of form EC8A to all party agents, INEC should have gone ahead to arrange for another collation (as was the case for Kudan LGA), since voting and results were not affected by the said violence, and not an outright cancellation of the entire ward results which affected over 3,000 valid votes cast.
INEC cancelled some polling units results purportedly on the grounds of over-voting. But a scrutiny of the BVAS report, the voter accreditation register, the votes scored by each party, and the number of rejected votes show that there was not a case of over-voting In effect, the people of the affected areas are looking up to the Supreme Court for the restoration of the votes freely given to the respective political parties that participated in the election.
In the case of Makera Ward, the result announced by INEC recorded 9,241 votes for the APC against PDP’s 1,824. These figures, however, are bogus going by the figures on the certified true copies of the results obtained from INEC and duplicate copies of Form EC8A issued to party agents.
The struggle for a better Nigeria is a task that must be done. It is a task that must be anchored on building very strong electoral and judicial institutions; where the sanctity of the ballot can be guaranteed, and the collective will of the people is respected. Yes, as Haile Selassie once remarked, “throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” Nigerians from all walks of life, therefore, cannot afford to look the other way at this critical time in our history but join in the call for justice for the people of Kaduna State by the Supreme Court. It is now or never!
Auta writes from Kaduna, Nigeria.
