...how 2015 guber poll in Akwa Ibom State was upheld despite unfavorable rulings at Tribunal and Appeal Court
Barr Inibehe Effiong wrote:
In the 2015 gubernatorial elections, records from INEC’s Smart Card Readers proved that about 400,000 people only were accredited in Akwa Ibom.
But the PDP candidate magically scored over 900,000 votes.
At the tribunal, INEC’s official explanation for the over voting was that card readers failed in certain polling units and they resorted to Incident Forms.
INEC in their defence to the election petition filed by Umana Okon Umana pleaded the Incident Forms and vowed to tender them at the trial.
I was present at the tribunal the day INEC was billed to tender the so-called Incident Forms as a defence to the case of over voting made up by the Petitioners.
INEC brought in Ghana Must Go Bags containing the purported Incident Forms in obedience to the subpoena issued at the request of the PDP (Pictures attached).
Guess what?
The incident forms were abandoned and never tendered.
Analysis of the Voter’s Register also proved over voting.
We were so certain that the gubernatorial election that brought in Udom Emmanuel in 2015 was going to be annulled.
Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN was the Petitioner’s lead counsel (Pictures showing me with Olanipekun and Umana Umana are attached).
Note that over voting was only one of the grounds of the petition.
In its judgment, the Election Tribunal saw massive irregularities and nullified results in half of the LGAs in the State and ordered a rerun. Both parties felt aggrieved and appealed.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal saw massive irregularities and nullified the entire election and ordered a fresh election in the entire State.
The PDP went to the Supreme Court and everything changed.
I was present at the Supreme Court when Chief Olanipekun told the Justices bluntly that he has NEVER seen an election petition where the evidence of malpractice was more compelling than that of Mr. Umana Umana.
I am talking about Olanipekun, SAN.
At the tribunal, the same Olanipekun on 8th October, 2015 during adoption of written addresses made a statement that became popular at the time when he declared thus:
“No election known to law, no election known to mankind, no election known to civilisation was conducted in Akwa Ibom State.”
At the Supreme Court, the most dubious and violent election in the history of my State in which many people were killed was upheld.
The PDP celebrated it.
The same thing happened in the Rivers gubernatorial election that brought Wike to power. The Court of Appeal nullified the election but Wike survived at the Supreme Court.
I have always been fascinated by electoral jurisprudence. My final year project in the university was titled: Issues and Challenges in the Adjudication of Election Petitions and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria”.
As a lawyer, I cannot discourage aggrieved parties from litigating declarations made by INEC.
However, the harsh truth is that our current electoral jurisprudence does not give a petitioner a fair chance of success.
No matter how corrupt or fraudulent the election is, no matter the evidence you present, there are many obstacles that have been laid by a chain of judicial decisions spanning many years that will frustrate you.
When you tender evidence of fraud, you will likely be told that you abandoned or dumped the documents on the tribunal.
You will be told to call witnesses from all affected polling units despite that there are documents that speaks to the issues, and despite the very limited time available to you to present your case.
The PDP is the major perpetrator and beneficiary of electoral fraud in Nigeria.
Most of the controversial electoral judgements from our courts have been in favour of the PDP. The PDP sowed the seeds of electoral fraud and esoteric electoral jurisprudence in Nigeria.
We cannot change Nigeria through opportunistic agitations.
Whatever evils the APC has done to our elections, the PDP laid the foundations for it.
If you doubt me, look up Nigerian Law Reports.
History will vindicate the just.
