- Say INEC Requires Impartiality Fundamental To Integrity Of Nigeria’s Elections
- Seek Annulment Of Alleged APC Members As RECs For INEC
The appointment of some Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) seems to have landed President Bola Ahmed Tinubbu into hot waters
Some concerned groups under the aegis of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT and 34 concerned Nigerians filed a lawsuit against President Tinubu at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday.
This was disclosed in a statement by SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare on Sunday.
Trouble started on October 25, 2023, when the President approved the appointment of 10 new RECs for the electoral body for a term of five years each. A week later, the nominees were screened by the Nigerian Senate despite the outcry that some of the appointees were partisan.
Those confirmed are Etekamba Umoren (Akwa Ibom) Isah Shaka Ehimeakne (Edo) Oluwatoyin Babalola (Ekiti) Abubakar Ahmed Ma’aji (Gombe), Shehu Wahab (Kwara), Mohammed Yelwa (Niger) and Aminu Idris (Nasarawa).
However, there were reports that three of the nominees – Umoren, Shaka and Omoseyindemi – were said to be loyalists of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
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In the suit number FHC/L/CS/2353/2023, the Plaintiffs are seeking: “an order setting aside the nomination, confirmation and appointment of the alleged APC members as RECs for INEC, for being unconstitutional, unlawful, null, void and of no effect.”
“The status, powers, independence of INEC, and the impartiality with which it acts and is seen to be allowed to act are fundamental to the integrity of Nigeria’s elections and effectiveness of citizens’ democratic rights,” the plaintiffs argued.
“INEC ought to be the primary guarantor of the integrity and purity of the electoral process. President Tinubu and the Senate have the constitutional responsibilities to ensure both the appearance and the actual independence and impartiality in the nomination and confirmation of INEC top officials.
“The credibility and legitimacy of elections depend mostly on the independence and impartiality of those appointed to manage the process. Without an independent and impartial INEC, the democratic rights of Nigerians would remain illusory.”
The suit filed on behalf of the Plaintiffs by their lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Andrew Nwankwo, read in part: “As public officers, President Tinubu and Mr Godswill Akpabio are required to act in conformity with their oath of office and the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”
“Treating INEC as a line department accountable to bureaucratic higher-ups and high-ranking politicians rather than as an independent and impartial body is antithetical to constitutional and international standards and the notion of the rule of law.
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“The use of the word ‘non-partisan’ means that those to be appointed to conduct credible elections must not be people who openly identify as belonging to a political party, whose occupation is politics or who are perceived by ordinary Nigerians as having political biases.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
The Matrix recalls that the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State had earlier dragged President Tinubu to court for over the issue in the case of the REC for Akwa Ibom.
The Chairman and Secretary of the state PDP, Aniekan Akpan and Harrison Ekpo, had filed the lawsuit respectively.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/146/2023 filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, the plaintiffs listed as defendants, Tinubu, the Senate and Umoren.
The plaintiffs attached to their originating summons, some coloured photographs of Umoren on campaign grounds wearing the APC clothes and also clips of him in APC dresses campaigning for the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The opposition party chieftains are urging the court to declare that “the 1st defendant (President Tinubu) cannot present the 3rd defendant (Umoren) to the 2nd defendant (Senate) for confirmation as REC for Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.”
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They are seeking a court declaration that “the appointment of the 3rd defendant as REC for Akwa Ibom State is unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional, null and void ab initio and of no effect whatsoever.”
The plaintiffs want the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction “restraining the Senate from allowing, permitting and/or confirming Umoren as a REC and a further injunction restraining Umoren from acting, assuming the office and/or parading himself as a REC for Akwa Ibom State.”
Similarly, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, addressed the press in Abuja on Thursday, stating that the opposition party was opposed to the choice of Umoren as Akwa Ibom State REC.
Ologunagba alleged that Umoren’s appointment was a plot by the ruling party to manipulate future polls and perpetuate itself in power.
The PDP scribe said, “Of particular concern is the brazen imposition of a card-carrying member and prominent leader of the APC in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Etekamba Umoren, as the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State, despite the loud and widespread outcry and rejection by Nigerians, and particularly our party, the PDP, and the people of Akwa Ibom State.
“The PDP, therefore, in clear and unequivocal terms rejects the imposition of Etekamba Umoren as INEC REC for Akwa Ibom State being conceived in iniquity and in flagrant violation of the express provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022 and the universal demand of impartiality and non-partisanship of an electoral body and its officials.”
Ologunagba described Umoren’s appointment as a grievous assault on INEC’s credibility as an institution of democracy and the sanctity of the electoral process.
He revealed that the PDP is aware of the mission handed to Umoren by the APC leadership to use the office of the REC to allegedly compromise sensitive processes, materials and systems including voter registration, collection of Voter Cards, doctoring of Voter Register, delineation of electoral constituencies and coercion of INEC staff.
Ologunagba declared Umoren’s appointment as provocative and vexatious defilement of the independence, integrity and credibility of the electoral system.
“Etekamba Umoren should therefore steer clear of INEC’s office in Akwa Ibom State. President Bola Tinubu should immediately commence the process of appointing a neutral Resident Electoral Commissioner for Akwa Ibom State to avert crisis and illegitimacy in future elections in the state,” he said.
