The Peoples Democratic Party and the Action Congress of Nigeria on Sunday traded words over the provision in the Electoral Act, which says that the courts will no longer have the power to declare the winner of an election petition case elected, but would rather order a rerun where elections are nullified.
Section 140 (2) of the Electoral Act states, “Where an Election Tribunal or Court nullified an election on the grounds that the person who obtained the highest votes at the election was not qualified to contest the election, the election tribunal or court shall not declare the person with second highest votes elected, but shall order a fresh election.”
While the PDP lauded the new Act, the ACN said it might challenge the said provision.
The PDP, through its National Legal Adviser, Olusola Oke, said ACN’s position was informed by what he described as its “well-known method of winning through the courts instead of through the vote of the electorate.”
“The ACN is known for blackmail and the raising of false alarm. It thrives only in the act of intimidation and influence of the system corruptively. The party should know that the era of winning elections through the courts is gone.
“The new Electoral Act has successfully curbed the excesses of this party. This is because the clause in the act that allows them to get victory through the courts has been amended.
“This is the reason why the party, rather than work and win the people’s confidence and get their votes, is busy issuing false statements accusing the PDP of unimaginable things.”
The PDP stance came against the backdrop of its loss of five states in which the Independent National Electoral Commission declared it winner in the 2007 elections. The party lost the states to the ACN, Labour Party and All Progressive Grand Alliance.
While it lost Edo, Ekiti and Osun states to the ACN via court rulings, it lost Ondo and Anambra states to the LP and APGA respectively. The PDP, according to the courts, rigged elections in the affected states.
But the ACN appears to be unhappy with this provision of the amended constitution. Although the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the party was still studying all the amendment, he hinted that the party might fight the provision in court.
He said, “We are going to ask Mr. Hakeem Gbajabiamila, who is the minority leader of the House of Representatives to re-interprete that aspect of the constitution to us. If it is true, we will challenge it in court.
“He has not told us what particular aspect of the Electoral Act refers to that, but we are going to ask our legal department to look into it.
“Any law that is different from the powers given to the Constitution cannot stand. What we want to do now is to find out what particular portion of the constitution refers to that.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole had echoed the new provision of the Electoral Act at a PDP rally in Akure, Ondo State, early this month.
He said the new law passed by the National Assembly “made what happened in Ondo State after the last election (an) impossibility again in Nigeria.”
“We have passed a law, and in the new Electoral Act, the court has no power to send a sitting governor away because of irregularities in an election that brought him to office. The worst that could happen is a rerun. And PDP will win again and again,” he said.
Also, reacting, the spokesman of the Congress for Progressive Change Presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said that the PDP should not rejoice over the amendment.
Odumakin said that voters would in the April elections protect their votes, thus making a resort to the judiciary unnecessary. According to him, the PDP will not be able to rig during the elections.
Labour Party Chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, said no legislation could oust the jurisdiction of the court to determine what was right or wrong.
Reacting to Dimeji’s statement, he said, “Only limited persons talk that way and that goes to show the quality of representation and indeed leadership in the House of Representatives. He cannot make laws and at the same time interpret it.”
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