Our rights Column: April 22, 2003

April 22, 2003

The Election Petition Process

OurRights appears every Tuesday or Thursday in ThisDay newspaper.

The past two weekends have witnessed Nigerians going to the polls to take decisions on who will govern them in the next four years.

Indeed this is a very crucial time in the history of Nigeria. Nigeria, in its over forty years of existence as an independent nation has witnessed several elections under civilian as well as military regimes. In its electoral history, it has been noted that every election organised by civilian administrations in Nigeria was severally flawed, as such elections were adjudged to be neither free nor fair

It has been widely acknowledged that the only free and fair elections since Nigeria’s independence was the 1993 general elections which was eventually annulled.

As we journey towards another civilian-to-civilian transition, which Nigerians hope will succeed this time, lessons learnt from past failed efforts at civilian transition should be put in perspective and every negative activity checkmated.

Nigerian politicians need to demonstrate some level of maturity and should not resort to discrediting the entire electoral process, threatening our democracy especially when the results do not meet their expectations.

The politicians must realise that in every electoral contest, there can only be one winner. Therefore, any contestant for electoral post who is aggrieved or discontented in any way should utilize the procedures and processes outlined in the Electoral Act and under the Nigerian Constitution to seek redress.

Every aggrieved candidate or political party that participated at an election could petition the court or election tribunal within 30 days from the date the result of the elections was declared. Such petitions are to be founded on irregularities in the conduct of the election; for example, corrupt practices and non-compliance with the provisions of the law. CRP therefore calls on aggrieved parties to adopt the proper channels for redress.

CRP also calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to take adequate and decisive steps to address the shortcomings observed in the just concluded elections in conducting future ones.

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What Manner of Councils? (1) (July 10, 2001)
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Corruption: "US Exposes Top Government Officials" (June 12, 2001)
Jerry Gana's Antics (June 05, 2001)
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