GEJ tells NASS to review electoral litigation process

By Musa Baba Adamu

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to review Nigeria’s electoral litigation process and establish a constitutional court to streamline election-related issues.
Mr Jonathan made the call in Abuja during the 70th birthday and book launch of Gbenga Daniel (APC senator representing Ogun East).
The former president argued that a specialized court would reduce the burden on the nation’s political system by handling election matters in a single phase.
He noted that the current three-tier litigation process for governorship elections—moving from the tribunal to the Court of Appeal and, finally, to the Supreme Court—has become ineffective.
Reflecting on the evolution of Nigeria’s electoral laws, Jonathan recalled a 2011 case where a governorship candidate lost his seat due to a technicality regarding the colour of ink used by voters.
“I remember a particular case where someone lost an election as a governor because the law then stipulated the use of red ink to tick voters’ names.
“In an entire senatorial district, they were not provided with red pens and used available black or green pens. As a result, those votes were cancelled. The Appeal Court upheld this, even though the lower tribunal felt that a tick is a tick,” Mr Jonathan said.
The former president explained that while the National Assembly later amended the law to allow governorship cases to reach the Supreme Court to prevent such injustices, it failed to address the length of litigation.
Mr Jonathan urged Nigeria to look towards the judicial models of Francophone African countries, which utilise specialised Constitutional Courts for political matters.
“If the Supreme Court would continue to be the terminal court for governor’s elections, then they don’t need to go through the lower tribunal, so that it would just be one step.
“I believe the ideal thing to do, which I was considering when I was in office, was to make sure that it’s only one tribunal that listens to any litigation relating to politics. This is done, especially in the Francophone countries in Africa. They have constitutional courts, anything about elections, only the constitutional courts that take decisions,’’ Mr Jonathan said.
The former president also challenged the judiciary to be firm in its decision-making to sanitise the nation’s politics.
“Politics is like soccer and the judges are the referees. If the referee looks the other way, players will break legs or score with their hands,” Mr Jonathan added.