The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that cases brought by litigious persons and parties are consuming critical time for the preparation and acquisition of sensitive materials for the 2023 general elections.
The nation’s electoral umpire stated further that the cases are wasting the time of the courts, who are already overburdened with even the most unlikely cases.
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Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, said this at a capacity Building Workshop for Justices and Judges on Election Matters held at the National Judicial Institute in Abuja.
He said the Commission had been joined in about 600 cases relating to the conduct of recent primaries and nomination of candidates by political parties for the 2023 general election.
Yakubu, reassured the judiciary that the Commission will continue to abide by court orders.
Development Lawyer, Fred Okey Nzeako, said on Friday’s edition of This Morning with Yori Folarin that the threat posed by litigations is worrisome, and the number is quite huge.
According to him, most of the cases are as a result of issues arising from the party primaries that have conducted this year.
“The party primaries, as a matter of fact, are necessary precondition before the general election.
“For the party primaries primaries, to be credible, acceptable, according to the provision of the law, ‘SHALL’ be monitored by INEC,” the lawyer said.
Mr Nzeako further stated that INEC is culprit of why Nigeria currently has an avalanche of court cases threatening the 2023 elections.
He stated that: “The law provides that the party primary should be monitored by INEC.”
According to Festus Okoye, Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, resident electoral commissioners are not members of INEC, and thus any election monitored by Recs or any report of monitoring brought by Recs would not carry the weight that it is supposed to carry in a court of law because they are not members of INEC.
This was further accentuated by the National Commissioner, Mr. Haruna Mohammed about two weeks ago. “If INEC distances itself from the authority of the residential electoral commissioners, INEC cannot come today and cry Wolf.
“Secondly, INEC set the standard because the law provides that INEC has the authority, both the constitution and the electoral act provides that INEC has the authority to set the standard and the procedure for the election. They have all that latitude.
Mr Nzeako further said that, with what is happening across Nigeria, it is obvious INEC has not put its feet on ground as expected and “that is why we are currently having challenges in the court of law for INEC.”
Apart from INEC being the culprit, the legal practitioner noted that “our politicians are also complicit in the matter because an average politician would want things to go his own way, but that is why we have the laws and the authorities.”
He noted further that the electoral management body should not be playing to the whims and caprices of politicians, no matter how highly placed any politician can be.
“They are now having 600 cases in court and, for every case, INEC is a party, and once you are a party to any case, you must respect the court and be part of the case, otherwise, whatever judgment that is given, whether you are there or not, whether you are joined, the judgment will be binding on you.
“INEC should not cause the problem in the morning and come in the afternoon to start shouting wolf,” Mr Nzeakor remarked.
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