On Friday 6th of May 2011, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) asked the Court of Appeal, which is sitting in Abuja as the Presidential Election Tribunal to compel INEC to undertake some very sensitive tasks which have a direct bearing on the validity and credibility of the elections and which will be crucial to its position that the Presidential elections have been massively rigged. On Monday May 9th, the CPC will file its petition challenging the validity of the elections, in conformity with the law which stipulates that all election petitions must be filed within 21 days of the poll.
In the ex-parté application filed by CPC’s lawyers on Friday 6th of May, the CPC indicated its intention to examine the Direct Data Capture machines which INEC used for the registration of voters, and the ballot boxes and ballot papers used by INEC to return President Goodluck Jonathan as winner. The CPC also listed INEC itself and its Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, President Goodluck Jonathan and his Deputy, Namadi Sambo and all the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners as respondents. The CPC told the Court that it had made unsuccessful efforts earlier to get INEC to release many sensitive electoral documents and equipment to it, hence its recourse the Court to compel the Commission to comply with its request.
It now appears that the CPC will challenge the Presidential elections in all the States of the Federation, and will raise issues around every element of the electoral process, from the registration of voters to the ballot papers and collated results. This will be the most comprehensive challenge to an election, and will involve a very detailed examination of biometric data to establish whether the elections were rigged through multiple voting as well as; an investigation of the entire balloting processes and the appointment and deployment of all election officials. CPC plans to demonstrate, using the most comprehensive analysis of all voting processes, including forensic examination of ballot papers, that President Goodluck Jonathan did not win the Presidential elections.
General Muhammadu Buhari has kept his promise that he will not personally challenge the elections in court, but there is little difference between him and his party. The CPC’s challenge of the elections are therefore General Buhari’s challenge, and there is nothing wrong with the Party’s exercise of its right to challenge the election. What is significant is that the CPC, whose candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari received more than 12 million votes from Nigerians according to INEC, feels sufficiently aggrieved to challenge the Presidential elections result. In taking this step, the CPC is protecting the rights of all those who voted for the Party to establish to the last detail, and through the exploitation of all the avenues available for judicial redress, whether its candidate lost the elections fairly, or was rigged out. The Party is also strengthening the foundations of the Nigerian democratic system by ensuring that the electoral process is challenged to operate on the basis of the rules of fairness, transparency and credibility. It is also important to note that the Party’s decision to challenge the Presidential elections when its candidate has declined to do so is a welcome evidence of some level of its autonomy from General Buhari, even though its opponents will say that it is one and the same thing.
When, in December last year, General Muhammad Buhari told a foreign media that he will not seek legal redress from any Court in the land in the event that he loses the elections, many people felt that the decision was the wrong one. Even while appreciating the frustrating experiences of the General in the Courts following the 2003 and 2007 elections, many Nigerians felt that to forfeit a vital step in the electoral process in advance, which was what the decision implied, was to short-change the electorate and the candidate himself. General Buhari’s decision, even before the elections, not to challenge a loss in court also portrayed him in a negative light for a number of reasons. If he, as an individual chooses not to go to Court, his supporters and party members have a right to challenge his loss if they feel it was undeserved. To draw the line at the declaration is to treat his candidature and the mandate of his party members as personal to him. For someone who says he is a democrat, this is wrong. The decision also reinforced the view in many quarters that General Buhari and the CPC are one and the same thing, and the views of millions of its members and supporters did not matter in crucial decisions he and his kitchen cabinet took. There was also the concern that without challenging a declared loss, the Party and the candidate could lose a major opportunity to win a victory at the Courts, no matter how badly Nigerians perceive our judicial process. Finally, many people were worried that General Buhari’s decision not to go to court could be interpreted to mean that his supporters should seek justice in any manner they chose. Some of his detractors have insinuated that some of the violent reactions of his supporters, which he condemned, may have been informed by their understanding that his declared loss was the end of the road for their hopes that the elections will give them victory.
Now that the CPC has gone to Court to challenge the elections, and intends to do so in a most comprehensive manner, the nation can be assured that the electoral process will be thoroughly scrutinized as it should. The millions of people who voted for the CPC and General Buhari will have an opportunity to establish whether their candidate lost fairly, or was rigged out. All Nigerians will be assured that the April 2011 elections reflect the popular will or not. And our democratic system will be the better for it; while INEC itself may learn some valuable lessons in terms of its performance.
Now that the results of the elections are in the judicial domain, the Nigerian judiciary must rise to the occasion and do justice to the legitimate expectations of Nigerians that it will deal with all election petitions fairly and expeditiously. The nation is still counting the cost of the riots and mass killings which followed the Presidential elections. The general perception of the judiciary in the mind of the Nigerian public is not one it should be proud of. Now we have a very good opportunity to improve that image in the manner election petitions, not just the one involving the CPC’s Presidential candidate, are handled.
No comments:
Post a Comment