Leadership (Abuja)
Chibuzo Ukaibe
28 April 2008
opinion
Last Monday, April 14, marked one year that the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections were held in Nigeria, but the intrigues at the various election petitions tribunals across the state are yet to be over.
Since the tribunals handling cases of election petition began sitting; they have nullified not a few elections to the state Houses of Assembly, even governorship elections. But the centre of attraction undoubtedly seems to be the state petitions tribunal and appeal courts saddled with the responsibility of handling petitions on governorship elections.
And so by the day, the decision given by the tribunals and Appellate Courts, have continued to be greeted with various reactions. A disquieting feeling of uncertainty and anxiety can be observed on the part of incumbent governors, who have cases with the tribunals, and do not know whether or not they would be sent packing from office by the appelate court, after probably the state elections tribunal have given them a clean bill of health.
This has been the case since the wind of nullification started blowing in Kebbi State back in 2007, where the tribunal nullified the election of the Governor Saidu Darkingari. Follwoing in quick succession was the elections of, Kogi State, Governor Idris Ibrahim, Celestine Omehia in Rivers State and also that of Air Vice Marshal Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State. The election in Kebbi State was only recently upheld and a re-run election has been conducted in Kogi State with Idris Ibrahim still emerging as the governor. There are still a whole lot of cases pending at the tribunals or at the appellate courts.
However, political groups and analysts are beginning to feel that after one year, the petitions tribunal would have concluded their assignments.
They beleive that in the states where the chief executives are still embroiled in elections petitions tussle, they could be distracted by the courts, from their primary duty of administration and governance.
Afenifere, the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group agreed to this assertion when they said that "it is a sad situation that cases are yet to be decided in some states of the federation.
Former anambra state governor, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife advocated that to speed things up, if an election is being challenged, the office should be regarded as vacant. "We should have three months between an election and taking-over of power. We should enact a law that will put a time lapse".
Regardless of the seeming delay, it appears that for those that are seeking justice, usually the opponents, what matters is that they exhaust the legal provisions in the court. The governorship candidate of the Action Congress, AC, in Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, accentuates this position, when he said that he was not bothered by the delay in the work of the tribunals, but that what mattered to him "was for justice to be done at the end of the day".
However, for Waziri Mamman, a legal practitioner, he opines that there are many things to consider if people think it has taken inordinate delay. He noted in an interview with leadership Sunday that while one may be right in decrying the delay, it depends on the circumstances of the care.
"If you look at the election petition, there is time in which to file petition, after which the respondent has time in which to respond and the courts will have to sit, so there are a lot of procedures". He added that before the results would be gotten most times, it would take up to three months.
"But generally, the tribunals have tried because in one year, a lot of cases have been determined to the end and by-election ordered. So if you look at it generally, I think it is fair, because if you look at the evidence; they have to look at polling wards, the local governments, etc, it will take more than this period, he said.
"But because of the practice direction, they have reduced everything to writing; all witness have to do is just swear an affidavit in oath; take it to the tribunal and the tribunal will accept it as evidence. It has reduced the freedom procedure otherwise by now, I am sure they must have concluded by now.
Moreso, he is of the opinion that "The best way to reduce the delay is that elections should be planned ahead of time. "For instance, this tenure will handover in the year 2011; so you can organise elections six months to the time of the termination of that office so that whoever, wins will be given a certificate of return but will not be sworn in, but before then, the tribunal will now sit and determine petition expedition, so that as soon as they are determined, it will terminate at the end of the previous tenure".
Aba Ejembi of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), believes that one would expect that by now, Nigerians would have settled down and begin to talk about how government has been performing but that at several levels; the governments here have not been able to perform because they have had to contend with cases at the tribunals. He told LEADERSHIP Sunday that "One year after, rather than talking about how the government has performed; we have situations like in Bayelsa State where the new person will be there for three months and all he would be saddled with is to ensure that there is a government in place, depriving the people of the opportunity of really seeing, what governance is all about. He noted thought that it presents an opportunity to get things right.
"It affords us the opportunity to be able to look inwards to say this is what is wrong with the system and if we could just get it right even if it is in the next four years, it will still be a major achievement for the Nigerian people". he said.
Despite the lingering cases at the tribunals and the Courts of Appeal, analysts indeed believe that it is truly different scenario all together when compared to the past regime where "Hardly will you see tribunals ordering by-elections; but thank God now that there are changes."
But again, as the nation cruises to a post election tribunal era, the electoral battles appear to be far from over. Only last week, the former Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva was sent packing out of office after the Appeal Court ordered a fresh elections, thereby making the Speaker of the House of Assembly the governor in the interim. This is the scenario in most states including Sokoto and Adamawa, where the Court of Appeal upturned the judgement of the state election tribunal.
In Abia State which probably has one of the most controversial ruling, the state elections petition tribunal had the election of its governor, Chief Theodore Orji and Mr. Chris Akomas as the deputy, cancelled on the basis of their membership of secret society among other charges. They are both of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA). They have since gone to the Appeal Court. Other states with cases at the Appeal Courts include, Ogun, Edo, Yobe, Kwara amongst others.
Nonetheless, states like Bauchi, Plateau, Zamfara, Kano, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Kebbi have been able to cross the hurdle of the state election tribunals and Appeal Courts. It is worthy to note that in Benue and Bauchi States, the elections of the governors were not challenged.
As Nigerians rightly anticipate, the real end of last year's elections is gradually unfolding. Political commentators still hold that the judiciary plays a pivotal role in the stability of the polity; even as they hope the electoral system would be corrected before the next elections take place.
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