The malady of inconclusive election

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Ifeanyi Michael


With the recent declaration of inconclusive election in some states in Nigeria, there has been a widespread criticism of the injustice associated with the shocking declaration in some states across the federation. The criticism appeared justified when one considers the time spent in ensuring that the electoral materials considered expedient to the successful conduct of the general election are ready.


Be that as it may, there has been some pitfalls recorded so far especially with the use of some of electoral materials such as the smart card readers (SCR’s) which was faulty in some voting points and caused a stir among eligible voters who got a wrong signal that they were going to be disenfranchised due to the inefficiency of the smart card reader and this eroded their confidence in the electoral process which affected the general turn out recorded by voters during the Governorship and state house of assembly elections.


What is even more worrisome, is the fact that some states had resorted to vote-buying and alleged connivance with the INEC officials to declare fake results under duress. The states affected by the social malaise of inconclusive Governorship election according to the INEC includes Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto states.


The common denominator among these states was the decision of the INEC to hold supplementary elections in these states which is explicitly not provided by the 1999 constitution. What is more? The election was declared inconclusive by INEC despite leading candidates of the various states aforementioned meeting the provisions of the constitution as contained in Section 179 sub-section (II) of the 1999 constitution.


For the avoidance of doubt, Section 178 sub-section (I) of the 1999 constitution conferred on the INEC the power to conduct general election in to an elective post as it declares: ”An election to the office of Governor of a state shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent and National Electoral Commission. INEC conducted the Governorship election on March 9th 2019, appointed by the electoral body as dictated by the constitution.


With that established, let us look at sub-section (II) of Section 179 of the 1999 constitution which states: A candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a state shall be deemed to have been duly elected to such office where, there being two or more candidates he has the highest number of votes cast in the election and he has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas in the state.


The worrisome trend of inconclusive election which not expressly provided for by the constitution but has been created by the INEC must as a matter of urgency keep given credibility to the electoral process. Our courts must be able to interpret the Law where there is a breach in the electoral process so as to ensure a peaceful democracy and coherence in the electioneering process in Nigeria.


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