By Sonnie Ekwowusi
The February 25, 2023 presidential election is a counterfeit of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Whereas June 12 is the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, the February 25, election is the most rigged and most robbed presidential election in Nigeria. February 25, was a brazen and barbaric display of impunity by INEC, which ought to be an unbiased umpire in an electoral contest.
The commission and its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, flagrantly flouted INEC rules, which they made to guide the February 25, election? The BVAS and IReV were successfully deployed by INEC to upload the National Assembly election results, but not for the presidential election result, which was manually collated, thus enabling the INEC staffers to rig the election. Three days before last Saturday’s presidential election, Prof. Yakubu was reassuring all that INEC would deploy BVAS in electronically uploading the results of the election. Why, then, did Yakubu change his mind to transmit the results manually?
The European Union says the election lacked transparency. The
Financial Times (FT) March 2, 2023, edition said: “Nigeria’s badly flawed
election fails to set an example.” In their reaction to last Saturday’s
election, leaders in the West African sub-region have called on INEC to comply
with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 on the collation of results for
the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.
Prof Yakubu argues that last Saturday’s election was flawless and
that the aggrieved should go to court to seek a remedy. The APC also argues
that the use of BVAS is not a mandatory requirement.
Section 60(5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 states: “On conclusion of
voting, the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total
number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner
prescribed by the Commission.” The prescribed manner is the BVAS, which INEC
introduced to ensure that the electoral process is credible, in line with
Section 148 of the Electoral Act, which gives INEC power to make guidelines and
regulations to ensure the full effect of the law.
Paragraph 38 of the Regulation states: “On completion of all
Polling unit voting and results procedures, the presiding officer shall: (i)
Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling unit directly to
the collation system as prescribed by the Commission (ii) Use the BVAS to
upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREv), as
prescribed by the Commission (iii) Take the BVAS and the original copy of each
of the forms in a tamper-evident envelope to the registration area/ward
collation officer, in the company of security agents. The polling agents may
accompany the presiding officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre”.
If people had complained that the election was marred by electoral
violations and malpractices, Prof Yakubu should have waited to address the
aforementioned electoral violations and malpractices which strike at the root
of the election and have occasioned a miscarriage of justice.
However, instead of doing that, Prof Yakubu swiftly proceeded to
announce Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election, even though Tinubu
did not satisfy the important requirement enshrined in sections 133 and
134(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution. The requirement states that a candidate for
an election to the office of President shall not be deemed President if he
fails to secure 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Under what I consider to be his magnum opus entitled: “The 25% of
FCT, Abuja as A Legal Conundrum,” learned silk, Prof. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has
profoundly and brilliantly submitted that the word “and” in contrast to “each”
used by the lawmakers in the aforementioned section 134 is meant to apply in a
conjunctive sense in interpreting the section.
According
to Prof Ozekhome SAN, the implication of that interpretation is that no
presidential candidate can be declared the winner of the presidential election
if he does not win the FCT or score 25% in the FCT. Prof Ozekhome’s opus is a
must-read, and it can be accessed at
https://thelawyerdaily.com/the-25-of-fct-abuja-as-a-legal-conundrum/.
It is important to note that Prof Yakubu announced Tinubu as the
winner at 4 am in the morning when most Nigerians were still asleep. Why was
Prof Yakubu in a hurry to announce Tinubu as the winner and deliver a
Certificate of Return to him in an election that was grossly flawed by
falsification of votes at polling units, and falsification of the number of
accredited voters, If not to foist a fait accompli and a state of helplessness
on the matter.
However, INEC and Prof Yakubu are promising to deploy the BVAS
again on Saturday. Can they be trusted this time? Already, Labour has secured
an order of Mandamus from the court compelling INEC and Prof Yakubu to use the
BVAS on Saturday for the Governorship and House of Assembly elections. The
court order subsists; INEC must live up to its name as a real “independent”
electoral body on Saturday.
It should be noted that no democratic election is 100% flawless
anywhere in the world. Even in the United States, the Presidential election is
also fraught with electoral malfeasances and malpractices.
For instance, in his often-cited classic work, Democracy in America, French historian and diplomat Alexis De Tocqueville who travelled to America to study American democracy, writes that democracy that is bereft of equality of conditions is bound to gravitate towards despotism.
When democracy
is said to liberate all men, it is on the assumption that there are political
leaders with high moral principles ready to navigate democracy to a safe
harbor. Unfortunately, most democracies in the world are not run by Plato’s
guardians and ethically principled men. Most democracies, unfortunately, are in
the hands of men of unruly passions and creatures of appetites.
Prof Yakubu should allow the votes to count on Saturday. The
political parties should desist from sending their touts to tamper with the
results of the election.
A word for Nigerian voters: You must go out and vote on Saturday,
as you did last Saturday. May voter apathy and melancholy not consume you and
prevent you from voting on Saturday, March 18th, 2023. Amen!
* Ekwowusi is a commentator on public issues
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