Ndanusa Baba Ndako
13 April 2008
opinion
Lagos — The text of the Judgment delivered on the 29th of February 2008, in the petition by Senator Dangana Ndayako who contested the Senatorial seat for the Niger South Senatorial District will leave not a few questions unanswered.
Senator Ndayako, like his colleagues in the neighboring Benue State, had complained of the return of Hajiya Zainab Kure. He brought registers of votes and tendered the results from the polling units to show that there was no election, in that the result sheets were merely completed without recourse to the need for accreditation of the voters in accordance with the Electoral Act 2002 and the Manual for GeneralElection 2007.
The Tribunal in its wisdom held that the manual for the election was a mere guide which should not to be complied with at all. According to the Tribunal, the justification was in the fact that the failure to comply with the provisions of the Manual had no repercussion.
Even though Senator Ndayako was able to show that there were no red ticks in the registers and where some were found, the red ticks were less than the number of votes cast, (evidence of over- voting) the Tribunal only agreed with Ndayako in respect of 178 polling units, where no tick was at all found on the register. With respect to the other polling units, the Tribunal held that it saw some ticks in blue, some in black, brown, others were dots, asterisks and a cross and that though they were in different colours, they were both accreditation for the National Assembly Election. The Tribunal held that it was permissible to use any colour for the purpose of making the register.
Senator Ndayako's petition alleged non-accreditation of voters or accreditation not in accordance with the Electoral Act. In addition to the register of voters which was not ticked at all, some had red ticks but the total of such red ticks were less than the number of people who allegedly voted as per the relevant INEC Form EC8A (statement of results of the Unit). The law is settled that such was evidence of over voting and it is capable of nullifying the election in that unit.
Now, were the positions of the Niger State Tribunal correct, that is, that one does not need to follow the Manual as to the colour of the ticks for the different types of election; how does the Tribunal come to the conclusion that, taking into account the red ticks and other colours of ticking including the dots, crosses and asterisks that the number of people so accredited equaled the number of people who voted, which was not? Again, how and who told the Tribunal (other than from the Manual) that the blue ticks or other colours of ticks were for the Senatorial Election? Did the various colours of ticks sum up to equal the total number of votes cast at the election? This was not found to be so!
Following the law as laid down and the Manual for Election 2007, the Election Tribunal in Benue State found that for the National Assembly and Presidential Election, there must be a red tick on the register against a voter duly accredited to vote and for the governorship and legislative elections, the tick must be in blue colour. So there must either be two ticks, one red and the other blue, for the National Assembly and Governorship/ legislative election respectively, or three red ticks for presidential, senate and House of Representatives Elections and two blue ticks for the governorship and House of Assembly Elections respectively. Anything short of this does not meet the requirement of the Act and Manual.
What hope for the judiciary if this is happening in the Chief Justice of Nigeria's own state? What is really happening in Niger State? But as if this was not enough, some weeks later the Tribunal moved from simply refusing to give regard to the Manual, to the point of declaring the portion of Manual dealing with the use of colours for accreditation as being in conflict with the Electoral Act 2006. This was in the Petition of Hajiya Jummai Amina Vs Alhaji Dahiru Awaisu Kuta
The reasons for the onslaught on the Electoral Manual for Election are not far fetched. A strict application of the provisions of the manual with respect to the ticking of the Registers would leave no election standing in Niger State.
But not long after the Tribunal in Niger State declared the Manual as conflicting with the Electoral Act 2006, the Tribunal in Oyo State descended heavily on the Director of Operations of INEC Oyo State for daring to instruct the field officers to use any type of colour. The Tribunal expressed disappointment over the conduct of INEC in this regard.
But pause a little: was the Tribunal in Oyo State not too harsh on the Director of Operations of INEC, bearing in mind the fact that its counterpart in Niger State not only held that the Manual was not only necessary but it was in conflict with the Electoral Act 2007. Are they not courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction? Is the decision by the Niger State Tribunal not binding on the Oyo State Tribunal?
Obviously, the desperation by the Niger State Tribunal to avoid confrontation with the truth and its decision on the manual is no doubt an affront to justice. Why would it not say it the way it sees it? Must it go about annulling portions of legislations only to satisfy its whims and caprice?
Could it not stand alone and put across their stand no matter whose ox is goared?
Again the Tribunal has rejected CERTIFIED True Copies of all the ballot papers tendered by the ANPP Gubernatorial candidate, Mr. David Umaru, because the presiding officers were not joined in the petition; this is in the face admissibility of such similar documents by Tribunal in Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and even Ogebe's Presidential Tribunal. While the courage of the petitioners before this Tribunal is commendable, we believe that the law of restriction will always take its course sooner or later.
Judges as humans are not infallible but we cannot afford to have a judiciary comprising of men who have not risen above minimum standards. It is disheartening to hear a non-Lawyer express, albeit rightly, disappointment over the standards of judicial works produced in recent times.
It is for Justice Idris Kutigi, Chief Justice of Nigeria, to know and for the public to see this. Where else lies the hope of a common man if matters are treated in this manner?
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