Ekiti Electoral Verdict: Matters Arising

Last week, the Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, rolled out a landmark judgement. Indeed, it ruled that the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Kayode Fayemi duly won the 2009 re-run election in Ekiti State.

This came after both the lower tribunal and the appellate court had heard complaints arising from the 2007 election results declared in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, former Governor Segun Oni.

Sadly, the Appeal Court ruling, coming after more than three years into the four-year tenure of the former governor, no doubt, exposes the inherent difficulties of securing justice in election matters in our time. What is more, it also raises further questions as to the potency of the country’s electoral laws.

While The Tide commends the courage of the Appeal Court judges to deliver such a landmark ruling, no matter how late, the judgement also raises fundamental questions which answers would define the way forward for the nation’s electoral system.

Given the ruling of the Appeal Court, what should be the punishment for those now known to have rigged the elections in favour of the deposed governor. What of those officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who obviously compromised their impartiality?  How will the dislocation of the electoral timetable be handled as it affects Ekiti State vis-à-vis the timetable for the forthcoming elections?

These and many more, we believe, should occupy the minds of members of the National Assembly (NASS) who are now busy with the long –expected electoral reforms and the amendment of the Constitution, which Nigerians and indeed, the international community, are anxiously waiting for.

As a matter of urgency, NASS should take every necessary step towards discouraging a repeat of the Ekiti State example, by articulating punitive sanctions for electoral fraud.

We say so because we do not consider the removal of a serving governor after 31 months, as punitive enough for the magnitude of the electoral fraud committed by the governor in question and his accomplices in INEC.

This is why The Tide proposes that electoral sanctions should include forfeiture of rights and privileges enjoyed during the period in office. Again, all indicted persons should be tried for election rigging and fraud.

The same sanction, we believe, should be meted out to the indicted INEC officials who perpetrate unlawful action of returning a loser as duly elected.

Viewed against this backdrop, The Tide calls for the removal of the electoral officer who superintended the Ekiti State re-run election for declaring results which were known to be fictitious.

Our position derives from the fact that the electoral umpire who allowed herself to be compromised only to protest that she did the unlawful act under immense pressure cannot be depended upon to do the right thing even under normal conditions. The commissioner and her colleagues-in-crime were expected to be above board, given their privileged positions.

The Tide, therefore, calls on the NASS to seriously articulate more effective ways of making INEC truly independent by insulating the commission from undue influence from desperate politicians and other influential public officers. This is the only way to guarantee free and fair elections that would produce credible winners in our polity.