-by Uchechukwu Okoroafor, Abuja
The 2023 general election in Nigeria was billed to be the most transparent this country has ever seen. All the hitherto flaws and riggings that had characterized Nigerian election for decades was supposedly taken care of by the 2022 Electoral Act. Much was made about the use of technology to address all the rigging strategies that the erstwhile ruling party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the current ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC used in rigging election were addressed by the New Electoral Act.
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The INEC chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu promised both Nigerians and the international community that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used for accreditation of voters and that no one can vote unless the person was cleared by BVAS through finger print or facial recognition. Nigerians was told that there will be no incident form, which was used in the past to rig elections and that election results will be photographed in the presence of party agents and others, and uploaded in real time to the INEC portal and anyone can view this portal from anywhere in the world.
The thought that the election would be free and fair and that the votes of Nigerians would count encouraged more Nigerians than ever before to register to vote, especially the youths. The enthusiasm for the election was palpable. The 2023 general election was the most anticipated election in Nigeria’s history. Hopes were high that the country will get it right this time, thanks to the role expected to be played by technology.
A day before the election, a former resident electoral commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Mike Igini appeared on Arise Tv and warned that the election that would hold tomorrow (February 25) that no one will be declared as winner of the presidential election without getting 25 percent of the votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, insisting that Abuja is like a compulsory question which you must answer, noting that besides getting 25 per cent of the votes cast in 2/3 of the 36 states of the federation, to be declared winner the candidate must also get 25 per cent of votes cast in the FCT.
On the presidential election day on February 25, Nigerian voters filed out early to their various polling units to fulfill their civic responsibility. There were all kinds of challenges over the arrival of voting materials and INEC officials. Voting started early in the North and South West but in the South East and South South INEC officials deliberately came very late and when they arrived, they left behind vital electoral materials essential for the election, thereby disenfranchising many in that part of the country.
To make matters worse after the election, the BVAS was able to transmit the polling units results of the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections to the INEC IREV, but the BVAS failed to transmit the most important of all the elections results, the presidential election to the IREV. This development is the reason most Nigerians believe that the election was rigged in favour of the candidate of the ruling party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was declared winner of the election.
The aggrieved candidates were told to go to court. And they went to court. The prominent candidates that are in court are the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi and presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar. Peter Obi has brought witnesses that dismissed the claim by INEC that the reason it could not transmit the presidential election results on that day was because it suffered glitches on its portal. Peter Obi and Labour Party subpoenaed the host of INEC server Amazon Web Services, AWS, who stated that there was no attack on INEC server on, before or after the election. It then means that the election was deliberately rigged by officials of INEC and the ruling party. This is enough ground in a sane society for the election of Tinubu to be annulled because the results used in declaring him winner is very suspect. Obi also brought a professor of Mathematics who presented report to the court and asserted that INEC illegally awarded Tinubu unmerited 2.5m votes and the discovery of 18,088 blurred results in the INEC IREV. Tinubu was declared winner with 8.7million votes. By the time Tinubu’s unmerited votes (2.5m) are subtracted from 8.7million, Tinubu’s number will drop to 6.2million votes and when Peter Obi’s under counted votes are added to him it is believed that Peter will emerge the winner of the election.
There is also the contentious issue of the status of Abuja which is working in Peter Obi’s favour. Peter Obi scored over 60 per cent of the votes cast in Abuja which automatically put him in strong position to become president if Tinubu’s election is annulled, because in violation of section 134 subsection 2(b) of the 1999 constitution, INEC announced Tinubu winner of the election without getting 25 percent of votes in the FCT.
There is also the forfeiture of $460,000 proceed of drugs by Bola Tinubu to the United States government which could also be used to annul Tinubu’s election.
Peter Obi and co. efforts to get justice has been hampered seriously by the uncooperative attitude of INEC and the justices of the court that seem to kowtow to INEC and APC. Peter Obi and Labour Party as well as Atiku Abubakar and PDP had paid for some evidences with INEC to be given to them to prove their case, but INEC had been stonewalling and the justices of the court did not find it necessary to call INEC to order. A few examples will suffice.
The Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to provide the documents they asked for.
The LP and Obi told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that due to INEC’s failure to provide the documents demanded they would be unable to go on with their case.
Counsel to LP, Jubrin Okutepa, told the court that all the documents his client asked for from INEC were not provided.
“We are bringing this to your notice for your intervention because we have done everything humanly possible.
“This afternoon, INEC released a few IreV reports from Lagos and Gombe.
“These documents were certified since May 29. We have severally written letters detailing the documents we needed in the proof of our petition.
“We have paid for most of these documents,” he said.
Okutepa also informed the court that it appears that INEC was deliberately delaying proceedings.
Peter Obi and Labour Party had also subpoenaed INEC to produce members of the ICT team of INEC to come to the court to explain the glitches that they claimed made them to stop the transmission of the presidential election results to IREV but INEC refused and the court did nothing to compel INEC to produce their ICT officials.
These incidents and more has made many question whether Peter Obi can get justice from the court and recover his stolen mandate. Many people have referenced some questionable judgements of the Supreme Court which even senior lawyers like Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, could not understand. Of particular note was how the former Senate President Ahmad Lawan and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Godswill Akpabio managed to get the senatorial tickets of the APC after contesting for the party’s presidential ticket earlier and how the Supreme Court declared Hope Uzodimma the governor of Imo State from number fourth position, as some of the reasons why people are skeptical of Obi getting justice.
However, there are those who are of the view that the Justices may have Saul of Tarsus Moment on his way to Damascus and see the light. The judiciary may use this moment to redeem itself and show that a New Nigeria is indeed possible. When Peter Obi used the same judiciary in 2006 to Dr Chris Ngige as governor no one believed it was possible for a new party like the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which was barely a few months old before the 2003 election to remove PDP governor from office. Today some people are saying that it is impossible to remove a sitting president from office through the courts. Peter Obi said he is in court to take back his mandate. He believes he can do it. Bet against him at your own peril!