A civil society group, Citizens’ Advocacy for Social &
Economic Rights (CASER), has threatened to, in conjunction with the people of
Imo West senatorial district, organise a-1,000 man protest in Abuja if the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fails to issue a certificate
of return to Owelle Rochas Okorocha as the Senator-elect for Imo West
senatorial district within seven days.
The Abuja-based group stated this in a letter dated May 2,
2019 addressed to the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.
Although the election’s Returning Officer, Professor Francis
Ibeawuchi had declared Okorocha winner of the Imo West senatorial election
held on Saturday, February 23, he later said the declaration was made under
duress, thus INEC has refused to issue Okorocha a certificate of return.
However, CASER posited that Okorocha, having been declared
winner in the election should have been issued the certificate of return
alongside other elected members of the National Assembly.
The letter, signed by Andrew Korna on behalf of the
Executive Director, stated that “The act of withholding the certificate of a
declared winner in an election is not just a clear case of abuse of
constitutional powers by INEC, but it has become a painful denigration of a suposedly independent, impartial and unbiased electoral umpire that has now
become embroiled and tainted with the corrupt vestiges of partisan politics.”
CASER stressed that INEC, being a creation of the laws of
the land should be guided by the laws at all times, adding that “It is strange
and highly despicable that on the basis of mere hearsay, INEC will withhold the
certificate of return of Okorocha after being declared a winner by a Returning
Officer appointed by the same INEC.”
The group also said that by withholding Okorocha’s
certificate of return, INEC risked jeopardising its hard-earned credibility.
According to CASER, “It is a highly dangerous precedent, the
cost of which will be monumental if INEC decides to sacrifice its integrity on
the cheap altar of political expediency that is driven by unscrupulous persons
who do not care about the need to preserve the legal order regarding the conduct
of elections in Nigeria.”
CASER added that no part of the 1999 Constitution or the
Electoral Act vested in INEC the power to withhold a certificate of return
after a winner has been declared in an election, saying the only option open is
for aggrieved participants in the election to seek redress in an election
tribunal.
According to the body, the refusal by INEC to issue Okorocha
the certificate of return is an attempt to deprive the people of Imo West
senatorial district representation at the Upper Chamber of the National
Assembly, which, it stated, is in contravention of Article 13 of the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap
A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria which provides that “Every citizen shall
have the right to participate freely in the government of his country, either
directly or through freely chosen representatives in accordance with the
provisions of the law.”
CASER cautioned INEC against allowing itself to be
manipulated by politicians to foist chaos and confusion on the polity. It also
advised the commission not to lend credence to the belief in international a community that Nigeria had been reduced to a banana republic where the wish of
a few people override the will of the majority by allowing itself to be pushed
into thwarting the expressed will of the people of Imo West senatorial
district.
CASER, therefore, enjoined INEC to toe the path of honour by
issuing a certificate of return to Owelle Rochas Okorocha within seven days of
receiving the letter.
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