•Says commission joined in about 600 court cases •Assures that INEC will continue to obey court orders
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu has raised the alarm that court cases relating to the conduct of recent primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties for the 2023 General Election, in which the commission was joined, are seriously slowing down its preparations for the approaching polls.
The Commission, Yakubu pointed out, has been joined in about 600 cases relating to the conduct of recent primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties for the next year’s general election.
The INEC Chairman raised the alarm in his remarks at the capacity building workshop for Justices and Judges on Election Matters held at the National Judicial Institute, NJI, yesterday in Abuja.
He recalled that only two weeks ago, one political party (which he did not name) served about 70 court processes on the Commission in one day, seeking to compel INEC to accept the nomination or substitution of its candidates long after the deadline provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election had elapsed.
Some of the cases, he maintained, will go up to the Supreme Court.
The implication of this, according to him, is that INEC is still dealing with issues of nomination of candidates thereby eating into vital rime for preparation of and procurement of sensitive materials for the materials.
The INEC Chairman said, “So far, we have been joined in about 600 cases relating to the conduct of recent primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties for the 2023 General Election.
“Only two weeks ago, one political party served about 70 Court processes on the Commission in one day seeking to compel us to accept the nomination or substitution of its candidates long after the deadline provided in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election had elapsed.
“Some of the cases will go up to the Supreme Court.
“The implication is that we are still dealing with issues of nomination of candidates thereby eating into vital rime for preparation of and procurement of sensitive materials for the materials.
“It also means that the Courts will be dealing with the same issues long after the General Election”, he said.
Prof Yakubu, nonetheless, reassured why you are behaving like this now the judiciary that the Commission will continue to abide by Court orders.
He informed the workshop participants that the new Electoral Act contains eighty new provisions intended to improve the nation’s elections and address some of the lacunae in the repealed Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), provide legal backing to the technological innovations introduced by the Commission overtime and the extension of timelines for the nomination of candidates and for other electoral activities.
Continuing, he said, “similarly, the new Electoral Act confers exclusive jurisdiction to hear pre-election cases on the Federal High Court with regard to candidate nomination in order to reduce forum shopping by litigants, abuse of court process and reduction in the spate of conflicting judgements by courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
“We are reassured by the inspiring speech by My Lord the President of the Court of Appeal for the elaborate steps taken against conflicting judgement by Courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
“As a consequence of a similar workshop organised ahead of the 2019 General Election, we noticed a sharp reduction in the number of cases arising from that election and consequently a reduced number of elections nullified by the Election Petition Tribunals.
“For instance, 30 elections were upturned by the Tribunals in 2019 as against over 100 in a previous election. “Even so, in 23 out of 30 constituencies (i.e. 76%) the elections were only set aside in some polling units and not the wholesale nullification of elections in entire constituencies.
“We have studied the judgements of the Tribunals arising from both the 2019 General Election, the off-cycle Governorship elections and the bye-elections conducted so far.
We identified areas where we need to do more to reduce litigations.
“As a result, we are witnessing increasingly less Court cases challenging the conduct of elections by the Commission.
“However, cases arising from the conduct of primaries for the nomination of candidates by political parties is on the increase”, he said.
The INEC Chairman acknowledged the support of all it’s development partners in supporting the capacity-building workshop in particular and deepening the democratic processes in Nigeria.
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