By Omoniyi Salaudeen
Toques are still wagging over the Supreme Court judgment on the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his counterpart in the Labour Party, Peter Obi, against the victory of President Bola Ahmed.
While some concerned members of the ruling party applauded the judgment as a confirmation of the wish of the people, those on the opposition dismissed it as a rape on democracy. The All Progressives Congress (APC) in its immediate reaction said the judgment had laid to rest the claim that the votes at the presidential poll were manipulated in favour of the president.
The National Chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Edwin Olofu, said that the verdict of the apex court would pave the way for Tinubu to concentrate on implementing the Renewed Hope mandate of the APC for the benefit of Nigerians.
He said: “Nigeria belongs to all of us; it is our responsibility as patriots to pool our resources together to move the country forward. I congratulate both Atiku and Obi for their dogged fight in extending the frontiers of our democracy and law.
“This is democracy. Tinubu’s victory is another victory for democratic rule in the country. There is still room for both Obi and Atiku to actualize their presidential aspiration after the second term tenure of President Tinubu in 2031.”
The leadership of Labour Party, on the other hand, described the judgment as a miscarriage of justice.
The National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, said: “What transpired in Nigeria since the February 25 presidential election is a clear testament that our institutions are not working and that we may be sliding towards dictatorship.
“It is very clear that the executive has hijacked both the judiciary and the legislature. This is so unfortunate for our democracy and it is even more for the people of Nigeria.”
Atiku and Obi in their consolidated petitions had challenged the INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as elected president for the failure to transmit the results of the February 25 presidential election to the IReV server real-time, as well as the contentious issue of the special status of the Federal Capital Territory, making it mandatory that a candidate must secure 25 per cent votes cast to be declared as a winner.
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed President Bola Tinubu as the winner of February 25 presidential election, dismissing the alleged flaws in the voting system and Tinubu’s lack of qualifications as “devoid of merits.”
Some legal experts, who spoke to Sunday Sun on the matter, barred their minds on the implication of the judgment.
Dr Tunji Abayomi, a renowned constitutional lawyer, said: “My view is that for any legal mind expecting a decision from impartial jurists, that decision was predictable. This is because the three principal issues involved in the petition have been resolved at the Court of Appeal sitting as a Tribunal over presidential election. And those issues are issues of qualification, IReV and the position of the Capital Territory.
“I have spoken about it a long time ago that first and foremost IReV is not in the constitution and it is also not in the Electoral Act. It is the prerogative of the INEC as electoral umpire. If it is its prerogative, it can also alter it. It has nothing to do with the voting at the polling units where you prove regularities or irregularities of election.
“As for the issue of the Federal Capital Territory, that issue had been settled since 1983 in the case of Waziri Ibrahim in which I was a lawyer. In that case, the court ruled that FCT should be treated like any other state. Not more, not less.
“As regards the issue of qualification or disqualification, the attempt was to push the disqualification by putting in the issue of certificate from Chicago State University. Every lawyer knows that election petition has its own rules. And that is why the National Assembly takes particular interest in fashioning the rules for it.
“So, to ask the court to apply the general rules to a special process is an absurdity and the Supreme Court will not accept that. So, when you look at the three principal issues, if you are a sound legal mind, you could have predicted the decision of the Supreme Court.
“The outpouring of emotions we have witnessed in social media since the outcome of the last election is the misfortune of a lack of objectivity. With the infusion of social media, everybody now has an opinion and even trying to push the opinion on everybody else. But like Justice Bolaji Yusuf said, the process of law is guided by law. Often times, our people are not preoccupied with laws, they are preoccupied with what I may call metal legal factors.
“Because it sounds good, it sounds right. If it sounds good and righteous, but sounds contrary to the law, it is wrong. These are what our people should understand. And that is what exactly the court demonstrated on Thursday.
“In spite of all the noise about IReV, about Federal Capital Territory, the court made its decision according to the law not according to the way it should be or ought to be. The implication of all this is that our democracy is gaining firm root and that when we are working, we should be looking at the control of laws and not the process. In our country, we have fallen victim of government of persons. And here, you can see the effect of Atiku and Peter Obi who even appear larger than their parties. Now, the law will be supreme in our democracy and that is how it should be.”
Also, Senator Anthony Adeniyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in his own perspective, described the judgment as a fantastic ruling, arguing that Atiku and Obi lacked enough evidence to win the case.
He said: “The judgment is a fantastic one. One, I am happy not because it has come the way it came, but because it has proved wrong allegations of those people who thought they could win election without making any effort. Peter Obi in particular wanted to take advantage of EndSARS youths as well as Asiwaju’s choice of Shettima as his running mate to win election. Asiwaju is not a stupid politician and the result has shown it.
“In politics, victory is achieved by votes. He calculated very well and decided to pick Shettima as his running mate which some people called Muslim/Muslim ticket. Those who know Asiwaju know that he is not a religious bigot. Though a Muslim, he does not base whatever he wants to do on religion. At the time he was in Lagos, he stretched his hands to Muslims and the Christians alike. So, some people just wanted to take advantage of him to win election.
“The Court of Appeal which is the Presidential Election Tribunal did a fantastic job in their judgment to make it clear to doubting Thomases that Tinubu won the election. The same thing the Supreme Court did in its ruling on Thursday. Justice Inyang Okoro went into the details of the matter to show that they didn’t have any case. They were just making noise. That is why the Supreme Court didn’t say anything about Atiku’s wild goose chase.
“The judgment delivered by Justice Okoro is very clear to Nigerians because he simplified everything. Obi’s judgment didn’t pass 10 munities. Atiku didn’t prepare what was expected of him, but he wanted to ambush the law. You heard it from the seven concurrent justice of the apex court and current judgment of seven Court of Appeal justices at the tribunal. It took them 11 hours to attend to everything. My belief is that my learned colleagues who were their lawyers just wanted to have something said. Everybody knows that Atiku Abubakar was desperate for no reason.
“You can imagine the argument that Tinubu didn’t score 25 per cent in the FCT putting Abuja as superior to other states. They had no case, they were just grandstanding. For those of us who have been in the law profession for over 40 years, we knew they had no case.
“As for the IReV, we as politicians know that elections are conducted at polling units. IReV is not for collation, it is for information so that people can see the results. Before the election, we saw a video circulating in social media where some people told Obi when he was in abroad that they would do everything possible to make sure that they use their expertise in ICT to make him win the election. And you will recall that INEC said the server was hacked and they arrested some people in Maitama in connection with that. People should stop joking with this country. Nigeria will survive and progress.”
However, Prof Tayo Bello of Adeleke University, faulted the INEC for failing to comply with its promise to use the IReV, saying it had eroded the confidence of the electorate in the electoral process.
He said: “My own position regarding IReV is very simple. The Supreme Court itself did mention that Nigerians lost confidence in the election as a result of not transmitting the results to the IReV server. What is the essence of securing IReV server with several billions of naira if INEC feels it is not necessary to use it? Whatever INEC may say, people know that they deliberately avoided electronic transmission of results to IReV server.
“Now, they want to do another election in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa, have they not been talking about IReV again? If it were elsewhere, that INEC chairman will not be there now. However, since the Supreme Court has given its judgment that is the finality of that matter. But it cannot change the fact that people have lost confidence in our electoral process with this issue of IReV.
“On the issue of qualification, the Supreme Court deliberately didn’t say anything about it. They only knocked it out on technical ground, saying they brought it in after 180 days. They declared it dead on arrival.”
Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, in his reaction, suggested that the National Assembly should make an amendment to the Electoral Act to make it mandatory for INEC to transmit result electronically to the IReV.
“It is a thing of joy that after 175 days, we now have final judgment. Everybody has a right to go to court, but now that the Supreme Court which is the highest court in the land has given its ruling, I expect all parties concerned to settle and allow the person elected as the president to work. Supreme Court has spoken and the decision is final.
“On the issue of IReV, the issue is now with the civil societies and other stakeholders to insist on the National Assembly to re-amend the Electoral Act to enhance confidence in our electoral system,” he suggested.
