The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

  • Server controversy: I will open up soon, says INEC chairman

    THE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, plan to speak very soon on the server controversy trailing the conduct and outcome of the 2019 general elections.

    Yakubu said since the server matter was an issue before the Presidential Elections Tribunal, he will speak after the final judgment on all petitions.

    He, however, asked interested Nigerians to go and read the statements on oath by the petitioners and the defendants to have a full grasp of the issues surrounding the controversial server.

    But INEC plans to create more Polling Units (PUs) for accessibility to make voting faster and easier for the electorate.

    Yakubu said the swing in the nation’s demography has led to a population surge in some cities.

    He said while the Federal Capital Territory has had 562 Polling Units since its creation, the population of FCT has doubled over the years.

    The nation presently boasts of 119, 973 PUs in 8,809 wards in a country with 84,004, 084 registered voters.

    Apart from Polling Units, the INEC chairman said delimitation of constituencies has become imperative.

    Yakubu spoke at the conclusion of a session on the review of the 2019 General Elections with the media in Abuja.

    Responding to a question, he said: “In our jurisprudence, you cannot comment on a live matter in court. The matter is subjudice but after the judgment, I will speak on the server issue.

    “There are a lot of documents you have not got. There are statements on oath by the petitioners and the defendants. Go and read these statements on oath. It is actually prudent to go back and read the statements.”

    Read Also: INEC fixes Aug. 3 for Plateau bye-election

    In Yakubu’s view, trust in the electoral process is more important than technology.

    He added: “In some countries, they will be campaigning till the election day because there is trust. But in Nigeria, we print ballot papers, entrust these ballot papers with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and distribution is always done with heavy security. So, here, it is a question of trust.

    “Remember, some people attacked INEC offices in some states during the last elections because of ballot papers and other sensitive materials. Trust is key in any electoral process. The major difference between us and other countries is trust.

    “I cannot remember any country in Europe that does electronic voting; they still engage in manual process. Holland tried electronic voting but after 20 years, they reverted to ballot papers.”

    Yakubu admitted that going by the nation’s fluid demography, the creation of more PUs is necessary.

    He said: “Each time the commission makes attempt to create more Polling Units for accessibility to make voting faster and easier, it becomes a burning issue. We have to come up with the idea of Voting Points in some places to cater for increased number of voters.

    “Definitely, creation of more Polling Units has to be done but we need the support of all stakeholders, including the media. We will continue to see what we can do to create more PUs. Having more Polling Units does not confer advantage on any state, group or political party.

    “The idea of more Polling Units is about how Nigerians can be served. Satellite imagery has shown that there are under-served and un-served settlements.

    “Before the last Area Council elections in the FCT, we saw the need to create more Voting Points because the number of Nigerians who have trooped into the territory has become higher and the Polling Units have not changed.

    “The FCT used to be the smallest in population but its figure is now higher.”

    The voting statistics as follows: Registered voters (84, 004, 084);

    Polling Units (119, 973); and Number of Wards (8, 809).

    Yakubu said the anxiety over Polling Units was affecting the delimitation of constituencies in the country.

    He said: “The issues over the creation of more PUs are the same with delimitation of constituencies. We will continue to dialogue with all the stakeholders. Whatever requires legal framework amendment, we will approach the National Assembly.”

    There have been challenges on delimitation of constituencies in the last 36 years.

    The nation had gone through delimitation in 1922 during the colonial period; 1954; 1964; 1979 and 1983.

    INEC had on June 30, 2008 launched a nationwide consultation for another delimitation of constituencies but it was greeted with protests of likely “manipulation of the process to gerrymander state boundaries whose social and economic impact the complainants were not sure of.”

    The provisions for delimitation are contained in sections 112 -115 of the 1999 Constitution.

    Section 112 says: Subject to the provisions of sections 91 and 113 of this constitution, INEC shall divide every state in the Federation into such number of state constituencies as is equal to three or four times the number of Federal Constituencies within that state.

    Section 113 reads: “The boundaries of each state constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants thereof is as nearly equal to the population quota as is reasonably practicable.

    According to Section 114, “INEC shall review the division of every state into constituencies at intervals of 10 years and may alter such constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it may consider desirable in the light of the review.

    “INEC may at any time carry out such a review and alter the constituencies in accordance with the provisions of this section to such extent as it considers necessary in consequence of any alteration of the boundaries of the state or by reason of the holding of a census of the population of Nigeria in pursuance of an Act of the National Assembly.”

    Section 115 says: “Where the boundaries of any State Constituency established under -112 of this constitution are altered in accordance with the provisions of Section 114 of this constitution, that alteration shall come into effect after it has been approved by the National Assembly and after the current life of the House of Assembly.”

  • Court to INEC : issue Uwajumogu certificate of return

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been served an order of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja directing it to immediately issue a certificate of return to Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu as the duly elected senator for Imo West Senatorial district.

    The Commission had withheld the certificate of the APC senator on the ground that he was not validly elected because the electoral process was marred by irregularities.

    Senator Uwajumogu had approached the court seeking for an order to compel INEC to issue him Certificate of Return  having been announced as winner of the Senatorial election by the Returning Officer.

    In its judgment delivered on July 4th, 2019, Presiding Justice Taiwo Taiwo ordered the commission to issue Uwajumogu his certificate.

    In the order, the court ruled “that the Independent National Electoral Commission does not have the power and right under any law in Nigeria to review or otherwise deal with any question related or connected to the declaration and return of the applicant for the Imo North Senatorial District election on the 23rd of February and 9th March 2019 after the returning officer had taken a decision”.

    Read Also: Court to INEC: Issue Uwajumogu certificate of return

    The court among others also ruled “that an order of mandatory injunction is hereby made compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to immediately issue the applicant Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu a sealed Certificate of Return for the Imo North Senatorial District”.

    Reacting to the judgement, Senator Uwajumogu expressed satisfaction that justice had been served but regretted that he had to miss being inaugurated alongside his colleagues owing to the legal impediments.

    ” I am highly elated with the declarative order compelling INEC to issue me Certificate of Return. I give glory to God. However, i would expect INEC to swiftly comply with the order without wasting time to save me more precious time being wasted in serving the good people of Imo North in the Red Chambers. Already, INEC,s decision to hold on to my Certificate of Return after the Returning Officer had announced me as winner had caused me incalculable damage but that can be remedied to a large extent if i am issued my Certificate”

     

  • Tackling the presidential tribunal’s legal technicalities

    Events at the ongoing Presidential Election Petition Tribunal have again thrown up the foibles of Nigeria legal system. Like in many cases, where lawyers and their clients try to bore down the legal process, the legal team of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, appear to have a trick up their sleeves to ridicule the whole process. Having keenly watched the whole scenario from day one, I surmise that if some things are not quickly addressed, a blame game will soon surface that the presidency or Buhari (as is usually the case these days of the opposition) is circumventing the process. I’m neither in the legal team of any of the parties to the presidential petition but I think posterity will not forgive me as a lawyer if I keep silent over the way lawyers on the Atiku side are working assiduously to slow down activities at the tribunal.

    First, it was the request that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should make available the materials used for the presidential election held on February 23, 2019 for inspection. The request was contained in an application filed by Chief Chris Uche (SAN) before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal. Even when this was granted, the party’s propaganda machinery still flooded the media with the shout that their request was not granted. By this time, days were counting and the clock was ticking, but everybody pretended as if everything was fine.

    Fast forward to when the tribunal was inaugurated and Nigerians were expecting a smooth legal process, the party and its candidate again asked the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, to recuse herself from presiding or sitting as a member of the Presidential Election Tribunal sitting over the petition filed by Atiku, who is contesting the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as winner of the February 23 polls.

    The party premised its rejection of Justice Bulkachuwa’s membership of the tribunal on the ground that her husband is a Senator-elect from Bauchi State in the recent election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Even when many analysts had thought this would be a tall dream, it was shocking when a member of the Buhari legal team, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), stood up at the sitting and urged the woman to consider the request in the interest of the eventful years she had put into her calling as a jurist.

    As far as I’m concerned, it is a fact known to all the parties that the issue of a “server” for purposes of proving or contesting the outcome of an election in Nigeria is a non-starter, as there is no provision of such in Electoral Act to that effect. Recall that President Buhari refused to assent to the amendment of the law to allow the usage of server by INEC due to the fact that the entire country is yet to be covered by “networks.” Till date, except we want to play God or create tension in the land, internet penetration has not reached many parts despite our so-called digital revolution. With this, it will be an effort in futility to be talking about a “server” in a judicial contest as a Presidential Election Petition Tribunal when same is not provided for in our laws and even more when many parts of Nigeria have no access to internet.

    At this point, one may be forced to believe a joke at the Tribunal from the petitioner’s lawyers that Atiku has been scammed by smart ‘Yahoo Yahoo boys’ who impressed it on the former vice president that central server actually existed.

    Ask Mike Ozekhome, SAN (Atiku), Festus Keyamo, SAN (Buhari) & Kayode Ajulo (APC), who ought to traditionally speak out about this popular joke, but owing to the fact that they are all counsel to parties at the Tribunal these senior lawyers have decided to keep mute.

    However, my position may be different. Since the outcome of the 1979 election petition, which was ruled in favour of Alhaji Shehu Sagari, the winner of the election, I have come to realise that it is against public policy to nullify a presidential election. In the cycle of legal practitioners, it is being debated till date that the panel that sat on Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s petition against Shagari knew that 12 was not the 2/3 of 19, but it was allowed to stand in the national interest. Knowing well that nullifying presidential result could lead to coup or breaking down of law and order, tribunals are always circumspect in taking decisions. Again, while I’m not saying this to talk Atiku out of his decision, I’m using my open appeal to prepare his mind against unfavourable outcome of his case and the need for him to calm the nerves of his followers in the interest of all. But as I have always maintained, the petition itself is a stillbirth and it should be called so!

     

    • By Gabriel Uduafi,  Lagos.

  • Delta polls: APC witness slumps in court

    A witness for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akpos Willy (P.W 10), slumped yesterday during cross-examination at the resumed sitting of the Delta State governorship tribunal panel 1 in Asaba, Delta State.

    Before Willy slumped, he told the tribunal that at Unit 6, Kunukunuma community, Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South/West “nobody was accredited yet voting held”.

    Several witness also testified alleged diversion of electoral materials, stuffing of ballot boxes with connivance of the military, the police and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    John Enakhirero (P.W 6), who testified before the Justice Suleiman Belgore panel, alleged that accreditation of voters in Effurun, Uwvie council was not done in compliance with the Electoral Act or INEC guidelines.

    While being cross-examined, Enakhirero said: “Voting/accreditation did not happen at the same time. I witnessed voting/accreditation in nearly all the units. Voters were chased away in some areas”.

    Another witness, Jacob Ekpekurede (P.W 7), said   some men in military uniform chased him away while voting was still on. He added that voting was going on when his attention was drawn to the fact that collation of results had started in one of the classrooms.

    Read Also: Two in police custody for raping minors in Delta

    Jacob John (P.W 8) alleged that at the end of election in Unit 10, Ward 7, INEC workers allocated votes to the PDP. “The use of the smart card readers was not regular as some voters, whose names were not on the register, voted,” he said.

    Johnson Ichime (P.W 8), APC Ward collation officer for Okpe council alleged that units 2,8,9,10,11,12 and 13 were characterised by over voting. Yet, another witness, P.W 11, Uvo Royce said: “I spent few minutes in some wards because election materials never arrived. The bulk of the materials were nowhere to be found.”

    The APC governorship candidate, Great Ogboru, is challenging the outcome of the March 9 election on grounds that the election was conducted in breach of electoral guidelines. He is praying the tribunal to cancel the election.

    Joined in the suit is Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (first respondent); PDP (second respondent) and INEC (third respondent).

    The matter was adjourned till July 4.

     

  • ‘We‘ll use Kogi, Bayelsa governorship polls to correct wrongs of 2019 polls’

    The Electoral Institute, Abuja on Friday said  that it would use the Kogi and Bayelsa State governorship elections to correct all the wrongs from the lessons learnt during the 2019 general elections.

    Dr. Saád Idris, Director-General of the institute said at a Policy Dialogue series tagged, “Dynamics of Delegation: Reforms in the Recruitment, Training and Deployment of Ad-hoc Election Personnel“ in Abuja that Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been engaging with stakeholders since the last  elections, to know what went wrong to improve on subsequent elections.

    The INEC chairman, according to him, “has been making effort to address the challenges faced, so this is a part of that effort to look into the recruitment, training and deployment of ad-hoc staff during elections.

    “The effort of the commission is clear, it has owned up to some things that it did not do right, so beginning from the Kogi and Bayelsa elections, you will see improvement.’’

    Idris said that the plans to correct the electoral process had started, adding that “we are not going to wait for general elections before correcting all the wrongs.’’

    Idris explained that the meeting was part of the mandate to organize a policy dialogue, to engage in dialogue for reforms, recruitment, training and deployment of ad-hoc staff.

    He also said that the dialogue was with particular reference to what happened in 2019 elections.

    Earlier, Prof. Shola Omotola, lead speaker and lecturer, Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State called for expansion of the recruitment data base of adhoc staff to include ex-NYSC members, to guarantee continuity.

    Read Also: 2019 polls: we’ve withdrawn 64 Certificates of Return, says INEC

    Omotola, therefore, called for training and re-training of ad-hoc staff and the need to put mechanisms in place to enable such staff to also vote on Election Day, in order not to disenfranchise them.

    He advised INEC to imbibe the culture of timely recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff to enable them work effectively.

    Omotola also said that there was need to guarantee their security as well as increase their remunerations for greater performance.

    Mr. Adedeji Soyebi, Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute, said that a lot had been learnt from the lessons shared by various stakeholders at the occasion.

    Soyebi said that ad-ahoc staff played critical role in the electoral process, adding that INEC could not afford to overlook such role.

    “So the reforms in the delegation of responsibilities would constantly be reviewed” he said.

    He said that the institute would continue to improve on the electoral process in consonance with the commitment of INEC to ensure free, fair and credible elections and acceptable by all.

     

     

  • Presidential election dispute: Tribunal to hear Atiku’s, PDP’s fresh motion July 1

    PROCEEDINGS ended unexpectedly on Wednesday at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) due to the request by a lawyer to Atiku Abubakar and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chris Uche (SAN) for an adjournment to enable his clients react to the responses filed against a fresh motion by Atiku and the PDP.

    Atiku and his party are challenging the outcome of the last presidential election at the tribunal. Although they came second behind President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), they claimed to have won based on some results they gleaned from a central server purportedly utilised by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to transmit the result of the election.

    The PEPT, in a ruling on June 24, declined the petitioners’ request to be allowed access to the supposed server, which existence INEC has denied. The tribunal adjourned till June 26 for further pre-hearing session.

    At the resumption of proceedings yesterday, the petitioners were expected to pursue their petition, but their lawyer took all by surprise when he prayed the tribunal for an adjournment to enable them file replies-on-point-of-law to the respondents’ replies to the petitioners’fresh motion seeking to quash the proceedings conducted on June 11 by the tribunal.

    Lawyers to the the respondents – INEC, Buhari and APC – Yunus Usman (SAN), Yusuf Ali (SAN) and Lateef Fagbemi did not object to Uche’s request.

    But Uche urged the tribunal to conduct other pre-hearings related to the petition rather than wasting the day, a request respondents’ lawyers objected to.

    Usman, Ali and Fagbemi said they could only concede should the petitioners withdraw their fresh motion or reply orally, a suggestion Uche rejected and insisted on filing replies to the respondents’ responses.

    Ruling, PEPT’s Chairman, Justice Mohammed Garba said the tribunal would prefer to conclude the hearing of all pending applications/motions before delving into other issues related to the petition.

    Justice Garba adjourned till July 1 for the hearing of the fresh motion by the petitioners and the consideration of any other pre-hearing issues.

    In the fresh motion filed on June 18, Atku and the PDP  prayed the tribunal to set aside its proceedings of June 11 during which it accepted as undefended, an application filed by the APC, in which the party sought to strike out the petition because it was defective.

    Read Also: PDP, Atiku lose battle to access INEC’s server

    In a ruling on June 11, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to file the required counter-affidavit against the application by the APC and recorded the application as unchallenged.

    It is that ruling that Atiku and the PDP, by their fresh motion, want the tribunal to set aside, a request the respondents have also opposed with their various counter applications, some of which Uche said, were served on him late, and in respect of which he sought an adjournment to enable his team reply.

    In the application accepted by the tribunal as undefended, the APC wants the tribunal to dismiss the petition by Atiku and the PDP, or alternatively, strike out several paragraphs that were not supported by facts and laws.

    APC also wants  the tribunal to remove 10 states from the list of states Atiku alleged electoral malpractices took place in the February 23 Presidential Election because the petitioners failed to disclose the specific polling units where the alleged infraction, which they claimed, took place, thereby “making their claims imprecise, nebulous and vague”.

    The APC also asked the tribunal to strike out paragraphs in the petition, where allegations of thuggery, arrest, intimidation and conversion were made against Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police and individuals who were not joined as defendants in their petition.

    The APC also applied that the claim by Atiku and the PDP that President Buhari was not educationally qualified to stand for the presidential election be expunged from their petition because it is a pre-election matter, which the tribunal has no jurisdiction for.

    Also, the APC urged the tribunal to strike out the petition because it failed to comply with the mandatory provisions of paragraphs 4 and 7 of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2010 and Section 134 of the 1999 Constitution.

    The APC similarly faulted the petition “for being incompetent and in gross violation of sections 2 and 24 of the Legal Practitioners Act” and, therefore, urged that the petition be struck out with the lists of documents and witnesses to be relied upon by the petitioners.

    Urging the tribunal to reject the fresh motion, INEC, Buhari and the APC argued that it was an abuse of court process, because the petitioners had appealed, at the Supreme Court, the tribunal’s June 11 ruling, which they  sought the tribunal to set aside.

  • 60 parties back INEC in server dispute

    No fewer than 60 political parties are defending the integrity of the last general elections amid a dispute over the electoral umpire’s “server”.

    The Joint Forum of Presidential candidates and chairmen of the parties, which participated in the last presidential election,  on Tuesday accused the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of heating up the polity to destroy the electoral process.

    It asked the main opposition party to desist from acts capable of tainting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    PDP has vowed to appeal a tribunal’s verdict, which rejected its plea for access to INEC’s server.

    The electoral agency says it did not use any “server” to store results.

    The parties’ logic is that since INEC did not collate and  transmit the election’s results electronically, the so-called server is not credible.

    The parties, however, passed a vote of confidence on the electoral management body for conducting hitch-free elections despite some challenges, including sabotage and the non-signing into law of a legal instrument for the election.

    The Forum made its position known at a briefing in Abuja by its chairman, Alh. Shittu Mohammed Kabir.

    Kabir read an address on behalf of the parties instead of the Joint Convener,  Chief Perry Opara. He said PDP was on a wild goose chase.

    He said it was out of place for PDP to be insisting on inspecting INEC’s server when the commission informed all parties before the elections that it would not deploy the server for the election because it was not backed by law.

    Kabir said the political parties agreed on certain guidelines with the commission for the elections, adding that using electronic transmission of results was not part of them because of the legal implications.

    INEC, he said, informed the parties that it only experimented the electronic transmission of results during the stand alone elections in Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun states.

    But INEC said it dropped the idea when the Electoral Act giving legal backing to electronic transmission was not signed into law.

    Read Also: Tribunal rejects Atiku, PDP’s request to inspect INEC’s server

    Kabir said: “In the build-up to the elections, we as presidential candidates and our political parties held several meetings with INEC. The delay in finalising the electoral legal framework and the eventual withholding of assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill deprived the nation of the much needed reform of our electoral process, which must be anchored on the rule of law.

    “The needless controversy over the INEC server would have been lawful as it would have been mandatory for the Commission to deploy the server. We are aware that INEC had run pilots on electronic transmission of results. It had informed us that these pilots were deployed in Anambra, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.

    “However, INEC informed all political parties in the election following the withholding of assent by the President that it would not deploy the electronic transmission of results since it would not be lawful to do so.

    “We must inform Nigerians now that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was represented in those meetings and we do not know why they are heating up the polity with the server story.

    “This INEC server controversy is a deliberate ploy to destroy the integrity of our electoral process. Can the so-called results from the server be referred to as credible where INEC could not have legitimately transmitted results of the presidential or any of the other elections electronically?

    “We reiterate that the INEC server controversy is unnecessary. It is a plot to discredit the election as political parties never agreed with INEC in any of the several pre-election meetings that results will be transmitted electronically.”

    Kabir gave insights into talks between parties and INEC on the poll.

    He added: “Parties agreed on a lot of issues with the Commission and those were implemented. It is worrisome that only one political party out of 91 is saying a different thing on the presidential election while at the same time praising its performance on the other elections, especially governorship, conducted by the same INEC.”

    Kabir said the Forum faulted the report of the European Election Observation Mission on the conduct of the election.

    He added: “There were several innovations introduced by INEC which made the 2019 elections freer, fairer and more credible than what was obtainable in the past elections, such as the simultaneous accreditation and voting; the introduction of assistive innovations for physically challenged voters; the Continuous Voter Registration, which added fourteen (14) million new voters to the register, were but a few of the innovations introduced by INEC.

    “Therefore, the report of the European Union Election Observation Mission released over a week ago wherein they alleged a lack of transparency in the guidelines of election is bewildering. With all due respect to the EUEOM, it is left to Nigerians to decide how we conducted our 2019 general elections.

    “INEC consulted widely and extensively, and together with stakeholders of which we are a part of, came up with the guidelines for the conduct of the 2019 general elections, which the Commission followed to the letter.

    “We recall that nine out of the 11 points for consideration we raised as candidates under the auspices of the IPAC and CUPP respectively were adopted by the Commission. How then can the EU-EOM accuse the Commission of lack of transparency in putting up guidelines for the elections?

    He said the 60 parties believe “the just-concluded 2019 presidential election, the most recent in our democratic journey, was very eventful.”

    He said: “Nigerians must recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, most commendably released for the very first time the timetable for the elections a full year before the poll day.

    “The activities preparatory to the elections were all done in line with the timelines, hence Nigerians were in shock when the elections were postponed.

    “The events that foisted the shift on INEC, we later discovered, were due to sabotage and political manipulations which were prompted by politicians to gain undue advantage in the elections.

    “We, however, applaud the proactive leadership of the Electoral Commission for taking the best decision in the interest of the nation to shift the opening of polls and conduct of the elections.

    “For us who were direct participants in the election and with the information we had, we felt the election was impossible in seven days, hence it was a major pull off for INEC to have conducted it that time without any major hitches.

    “Having gathered as presidential candidates and thoroughly x-rayed the 2019 election, the unfavourable and hostile environment the election management body operated under, and the extant laws under which the elections were conducted, have come to the emphatic conclusion that the INEC performed creditably well and we hereby unequivocally reaffirm our confidence in INEC for its performance against all odds in the conduct of the 2019 General Elections.”

    The group urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment into law once it is presented to him again by the National Assembly, adding that the amendment “will hugely improve our electoral system and its processes.”

    Besides, it demanded a “process that will lead to the sanctioning of all personnel of security agencies who compromised the elections to serve as a deterrent to others and to exhibit that there are consequences for risking the peaceful coexistence of the country and putting the country in danger.”

    In his goodwill message, the  Joint Convener, Joint Forum of 60 Presidential Candidates, Chief Perry Opara,  urged the political class to “give peace a chance and seek redress in court where there are issues as a way of growing the nation’s democracy.”

    Some of the presidential candidates at the briefing include Alh. Shittu Mohammed  Kabir(APDA);  Charles Ogboli (ANDP); Danujma Mohammed (MRDD);  Kenneth Ibe Kalu (UPC) and  Alh. Isa Danbaki (MMM).

  • Presidency, PDP differ on parties’ position on INEC server

    The Presidency and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday reacted differently to position of 60 political parties on the raging controversy on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) server.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency welcomed the endorsement of the February 23 presidential elections as free, fair and credible by the presidential candidates and chairman of the 60 parties.

    But the opposition PDP accused the INEC of raising the parties to cover its track. It spoke through a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan.

    The Presidency urged the opposition to accept the loss with grace and maturity, assuring that the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch would look into the Electoral Act as advised by the parties at their joint news conference.

    The statement by Shehu reads: “We are encouraged by the patriotism of the presidential candidates expressed in clear and matured language. We are convinced that, regardless of our different political persuasions we can work together to improve electoral integrity in Nigeria.”

    Towing the line of the parties, the Presidency said:  “Despite the temporary setbacks experienced at the beginning, INEC managed to produce an election in which the voice of the ordinary people counted. Democracy is founded on the will of the people and INEC did well to ensure this outcome was achieved in the 2019 elections.

    “The success of democracy does not only depend on electoral laws, but also on behaviour, character and attitude of politicians.

    “Do-or-die politics is a threat to the success of electoral laws and democracy. And you don’t need to kill in order to serve the people.”

    The Presidency assured members of the joint forum of the 60 political parties and chairmen of parties that the President will not spare any effort in signing the Electoral Act into law after looking into it.

    The PDP knocked INEC for allegedly sponsoring an “amorphous” group to support the denial by the Commission of existence of a central server.

    Ologbondiyan said PDP’s investigation revealed that the group was hurriedly “conjured” by the leadership of INEC and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    According to Ologbondiyan, the main objective of the group was to assist INEC in distorting facts and making misrepresentations on a matter that are already subjudice.

    He said: “This was an attempt to help clean up INEC’s blunders on the existence of the server, sway judicial pronouncements and influence public opinion on extant matters in court.

    Read Also: PDP knocks INEC, group over server

    “The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the press release by this nebulous group emerged after INEC’s several blunders while the Presidency has already admitted that the claim by the PDP and millions of Nigerians that INEC had a server wherein it stored results of the 2019 elections, constitutes the fulcrum of contention in the Presidential election.

    “Nigerians are already aware of the existence of the server, which was duly budgeted for, set up in various INEC offices and in which data from the elections, including results, were stored. Moreover, the ruling of the Court of Appeal preventing the PDP from inspecting the server does not in any way obviate the existence of the said server.

    “Furthermore, PDP counsels that instead of engaging in this unnecessary media trial, INEC should have listed its nebulous group as witness in the election tribunal.

    “We also challenge INEC to confront the indictment contained in the reports of the European Union and other international agencies which showed evidence that the 2019 general elections were marred by irregularities and violation of rules by the Commission.”

    He urged the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to be apologise to Nigerians for not living up to expectation in the conduct of the last general elections.

    According to him, the electoral umpire should own up to its alleged failures.

  • PDP knocks INEC, group over server

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) knocked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for allegedly sponsoring an “amorphous” group to support the denial by the Commission of existence of a central server.

    The group, under the aegis of Forum of Presidential Candidates of the 2019 Elections and National Party Chairmen, had, at a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, hailed the denial by INEC of the existence of the server.

    Recall that the presidential election petition tribunal had on Monday, rejected the request by the candidate of the PDP in the February 23 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar and the PDP to allow them access to INEC server.

    But in a statement Tuesday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party said its investigation revealed that the group was hurriedly “conjured” by the leadership of INEC and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    According to Ologbondiyan, the main objective of the group was  to assist INEC in distorting facts and making misrepresentations on a matter that are already subjudice.

    This, the spokesman added, was an attempt to help clean up INEC’s blunders on the existence of the server, sway judicial pronouncements and influence public opinion on extant matters in court.

    Read Also: PDP, Atiku lose battle to access INEC’s server

    The statement said, “The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the press release by this nebulous group emerged after INEC’s several blunders while the Presidency has already admitted that the claim by the PDP and millions of Nigerians that INEC had a server wherein it stored results of the 2019 elections, constitutes the fulcrum of contention in the Presidential election.

    “Nigerians are already aware of the existence of the server, which was duly budgeted for, set up in various INEC offices and in which data from the elections, including results, were stored. Moreover, the ruling of the Court of Appeal preventing the PDP from inspecting the server does not in any way obviate the existence of the said server.

    “Furthermore, PDP counsels that instead of engaging in this unnecessary media trial, INEC should have listed its nebulous group as witness in the election tribunal.

    “We also challenge INEC to confront the indictment contained in the reports of the European Union and other international agencies which showed evidence that the 2019 general elections were marred by irregularities and violation of rules by the Commission.

    “It is therefore unfortunate that at a time when the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, ought to be apologizing to Nigerians for the failure of the commission he leads to conduct a credible, free and fair election, a mass electoral failure consequent upon which the nation has over 766 election cases across the country, his commission is now contracting faceless groups to launder its sinking image and pass a confidence vote on Yakubu.

    “The PDP therefore counsels INEC to own up to its failures put an end to its consistent denials on the existence of the server as justice will be served at the end of the day”.

  • PDP, Atiku lose battle to access INEC’s server

    The  Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has rejected the request by Atiku Abubakar and his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for permission to inspect a supposed central server, which they claim the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) used to transmit electronically results of the last presidential election.

    They have vowed to appeal the verdict.

    In a unanimous ruling on Monday, a five-man panel of the tribunal, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, dismissed the application filed by Atiku and the PDP, to that effect.

    The tribunal said since parties to the petition were disputing the existence or otherwise of an INEC central server, it was wrong for it to grant the petitioners’ request to inspect a server, whose existence, usage or otherwise was being disputed by parties.

    It noted that by averments contained in processes filed by parties, they had joined issues on whether or not there was a central server and whether or not INEC deployed it for the election.

    The tribunal said granting the petitioners’ request to inspect a server, which the supposed owner said did not exist, will amount to the tribunal agreeing that a server actually exists.

    It said the existence of a server, which forms a substantial part of the petition filed by Atiku and the PDP, should be determined at the hearing of the main petition.

    Justice Garba, who gave the lead ruling, noted that “based on the facts deposed to in the pleadings in paragraphs 6 to 8 of the petition, which is to the effect that the election results were electronically transmitted to the 1st respondent’s server, in addition to the accreditation information from the smart card readers used for accreditation use for the election.

    “And the respondents, having joined issues with the petitioners in respect of the same data, said to have been transmitted to the 1st respondent’s server, this court has to be circumspect and be minded, to peruse the petition as well as the respondents’ replies thereto, in order to confirm whether, in fact, parties have truly joined issues on the existence and use of a central server.

    “There are, in paragraphs 26, 27, 28 and 29 of the petitioners’ petition, facts that for the said election, held on the 23rd of February 2019, the 1st respondent deployed smart card readers in accreditation as well as transmit election results directly from the polling units to the central server.

    “But, the 1st respondents, in paragraph 6 of its reply, has totally denied the existence and use of electronic transmission of results in the presidential election of 2019.”

    Justice Garba, after a careful analysis of averments in the processes filed by parties, held that averments in the processes filed by parties “have clearly and unequivocally shown that parties have, indeed, joined issues on the existence or otherwise of a central server and whether the results of the presidential election held on the 23rd of February 2019 was electronically transmitted

    “Now, given the germane nature of this issue, which proof can only emerge at the hearing of the substantive petition, the question that comes to the fore is whether it will be rational; whether it will be judicious and to meet the end of justice, in accordance with the law, that the court should exercise its discretion in favour of the petitioners/applicants to grant access to what they call central server, in respect of which parties have joined issues.

    Read Also: ‘Igbo not worried about Atiku’s six-year plan’

    “However, from the pleadings before us, I am of the view that the averments in the petition and the respondents’ reply thereto, with regard to the existence of a central server and whether there was electronic transmission of the results of the presidential election, held on the 23rd of February 2019 and which issues have, admittedly been joined, substantially by parties, it is no doubt out of place and will not be expedient that this court should grant the prayers contained in the application.

    “In other words, if the court grants the prayers sought in this application,it would have delved into and resolved the substantially issues aforementioned as regard the existence of a server and the electronic transmission of the election results, which scenario would be unpalatable and create the impression that this court has indeed, confirmed that there is a central server into which the result of the presidential election conducted on February 23, 2019 was transmitted and stored by the 1st respondent.”

    Justice Garba said the court should be careful, while determining preliminary issues, and should avoid making declaration and observation that could touch or prejudging the substantial issue.

    He added that the court cannot, in determining preliminary issued, determine the substantial issues.

    Justice Garba said: “I decline to grant the reliefs sought in the application. The application filed on May 8 is hereby refused and dismissed.”

    Atiku and the PDP, in their petition before the tribunal, claimed that they won the election based on results they downloaded from the said INEC central server, which INEC has consistently denied its existence.

    INEC has consistently denied that it deployed any server for the transmission of the election results and that the extant Electoral Act and Electoral Guidelines do not allow electronic transmission of election results.

    In the application, Atiku and PDP had prayed the tribunal for an order:

    • granting access or the court’s supervised access and inspection by the petitioners in the presence of the 1st and 2nd respondents, if they so desire, of the 1st respondent’s server, wherein information are recorded and stored in data packages relating to the accreditation of voters and transmission of results from the presidential election, the subject matter of the petition;
    • directing the 1st respondent’s Chief National Electoral Commissioner and /other officers to grant the petitioners access to the said data base in the 1st respondent’s central server;
    • granting leave to the petitioners to inspect and obtain certified true copies (CTC) of smart card readers accreditation data from the smart card readers used for the said election as stored in the 1st respondent’s server; and
    • an order granting leave to the petitioners to file the report of the inspection and analysis thereof at the trial.

    The tribunal, in an earlier ruling. granted the 2nd respondent (President Muhammad Buhari) the permission to amen his reply to the petition by Atiku and the PDP by including his lawyer’s name, address and national Identification number.

    The tribunal overruled the petitioners’ objection to the amendment sought by Buhari, on the grounds that the amendment was not substantial enough to alter the nature of the case.

    It agreed with Buhari’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), that the petitioners, having in the past obtained the tribunal’s permission to serve documents on Buhari through the office of the All Progressives Congress (APC),it cannot object to the inclusion of the 2nd respondents lawyer’s address.

    The tribunal reserved till a later date ruling on the petitioners’ preliminary objection to Buhari’s reply to their petition.

    The tribunal said since the Preliminary objection affected the petition, it was better to determine it at the stage of determining the petition.

    Reacting to the tribunal’s rejection of therequest to inspect server, two senior lawyers from the petitioners’ legal team, Chris Uche (SAN) and Mike Ozekhome (SAN) said their client will appeal to the Supreme Court.

    Lawyer to INEC, Yunus Usman (SAN) said he as comfortable with the tribunal’s decision and challenged the petitioners to prove their case at the hearing of the petition.

    Uche said: “ you know the nation was looking forward to this ruling. It is one that is very pivotal to this matter. You know the Electoral Act empowers the court and the tribunals to grant access, such as this, to petitioners in order to institute andmaitain apetition andthatisallwe are asking.

    “But the court has ruled otherwise. Definitely, this is a matter that we want to take higher to the Supreme Court to challenge this ruling, because we strongly feel that Section 151 of the Electoral Act entitles us to have access to this materials.

    “We are not asking the court to decide whether there is a server or not. So, the aspect of the court prejudging any issue does not arise at all.

    What we asked was for the court to allow us access to the materials used for the election. INEC is a public institution, funded by public finance. Definitely, we are going to challenge the decision of the court today.

    Ozekhome claimed that INEC chairman and some other senior INEC officials, including Mike Igini (Akwa-Ibom) maintained that INEC would adopt electronic means and not manual in transmitting the results.

    “What the court has said today is that you do not have the right under Section 15 of the Electoral Act to maintain your petition. We did not ask for details. all we asked as for access to the result of the election.

    “Meanwhile, one of their spokesmen had written a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) that the petitioners have hacked into their server. The question is which server?

    “Like what my learned brother, Chris Uche (SAN) has said, we are appealing against this decision, because it is like tying your hands behind your back and expecting you to fight.

    “We need to know what is in the central server. We want to find out what is there that they are hiding.

    Usman said: “We are satisfied. The court has said it cannot delve into those issues raised by the petitioners in its application when parties have joined issues on them in the substantive petition.

    “These are the issues to be tried. you can try the by piecemeal. “

    To the Presidency, yesterday’s rejection of the request by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate at the February 23 Presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to inspect the Independent National Electoral Commission’s server is justice over propaganda.

    The election tribunal turned down the opposition party’s request to inspect the server.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, reads “In a landmark ruling by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), a desperate attempt by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to overreach judicial process was overwhelmingly rejected by a unanimous decision and the long standing principle of law has once again been re-enacted.

    “An attempt to cause the determination of an issue that constitutes the fulcrum of contention between the parties, at an interlocutory stage, has again been rejected by the tribunal.

    “What this means is that Justice and fair hearing through due contest by the parties of a major issue for determination remains sacrosanct and remains considerable by the tribunal upon according parties just and fair hearing and not the other way round.

    “The election petitions tribunal unanimously rejected the PDP’s request to inspect a server which existence is being disputed.

    “The existence of a purported server is being contested and if a purported inspection had been allowed at this stage, it would have amounted to the determination that it indeed existed even when its existence is being contested.

    “The electoral law prescribes manual transmission of results only and this was what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did, in obedience to the law as witnessed by real electoral observers.

    ‘YIAGA Africa deployed 3906 real individuals to run a parallel tabulation which returned the same results the INEC announced.” he added

    Last week, he said, the final reports of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute (IRI/NDI) electoral observer mission made clear that the results of the election reflected the votes cast.

    According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari won with a majority of four million votes and because only real votes matter, INEC announced him as the winner of the 2019 presidential  election.