Electoral Tribunal -By Okacha Stephenie Chidinma

In the year 1999, the Federal Republic of Nigeria witnessed an election that transitted government from military regime to civilian regime. In the election precided over by the then Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Ephraim Akpata, who declared Major General Olusegun Obasanjo as the winner of the election which was held on the 27th day of February 1999.
The fear of military government possibly handing over to civilian government hindered the issue of Electoral Tribunal and this paved way for most of announced winners in both the Presidential, National House of Assemblies, State governorship and State House of Assemblies elections.
In 2003, the issue of Electoral Tribunal became more pronounced after the victory of the then incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo in an election held on the 19th of April 2003. The opponent Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) filed a law suit against INEC’s Chairman Prof. Abel Guobadia. The incumbent government President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the ruling party, of Electoral fraud and malpractices.
Like a recurring decimal, Nigeria Supreme Court has continued to play the role of Final Voter in subsequent presidential elections since 2003, 4years after the country returned to the part of Presidential democracy.

A fact in a case
The supreme court of Nigeria on Friday, the 14th of November 2003 SC. 194/2003 between
Buhari and 2 others as petitioners/respondents
Vs
Obasanjo and others as respondents and appellant states

“The proceeding arose from the results of the presidental election held in Nigeria on 19 April, 2003. The first and second appellants were presidential candidates under the banner of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). At the end of the election, the first and second appellants were declared by the third respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), duly elected as President and Vice President respectively having scored the highest number of votes at the election. Dissatisfied with the result at first, second and third respondents filed an election petition in the court of appeals praying the court to invalidate the whole election on the ground of noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral Acts, 2002; corrupt practices and that at the of the election the first respondent/appellant was not qualified to contest the election.

The respondent/appellants on the other hand filed a Notice on Motion praying the court to strike out the petition for being incompetent and the petitioners/respondents equally filed a Notice of preliminary objection praying the court strike out the respondent/appellant’s Notice on Motion also for being incompetent on the ground that the respondents/appellants had also taken steps in the proceedings by the filing of their reply to petition.

Both the respondents/appellants’ Notice on Motion and the petitioners/respondents Notice of Preliminary objection were taken together by the court of appeal and in a considered ruling the court refused all the applications. The issue to be determined at the supreme court was whether or not the  People’s Democratic Party as a victorious party which sponsored, funded and campaigned at the election for it’s candidate is a statutory party to qualify as “any other person” who took part in the election provided under section 133(2) of the Electoral Act 2003. The appeal was dismissed”. The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on December 20th 2004 dismissed the petition filled by General Muhammadu Buhari. This dismissal confirmed more power and authorities on the sitting government and it’s cabinet.

On the 17th of April, 2007, another election was conducted alongside some other elections like National House of Assembly, State Governorship and State House of Assembly election which was conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission under the Chairmanship of Professor Maurice Iwu In the election, as usual way a winner must be announced after counting votes.

Umaru Musa Yaradua of the Peoples Democratic Party was declared the winner which didn’t go well with some contestant like Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP. The election was described as the worst election ever seen anywhere in the world by the European Union Election Observers as it was with rampant vote rigging, violence, theft of ballot boxes and intimidation which brought about filing a case against the Peoples Democratic Party and it’s Candidate.

The ruling party won 26 of the 32 states, according to INEC including Kastina and Kaduna State where the results were contested by the local population. A rerun of the election was conducted in Imo and Enugu states due to complications.

The supreme court of Nigeria,  the highest court of the country has spoken on the 2007 general election. Although it spoke with a divided voice, its voice was undoubtedly the law. This is to say that the judges sitting at the election petition tribunal did not all speak with one voice as decision varies but the majority of the judges carried the vote. Which must be obeyed by citizens in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is now tagged “ Supreme court on 2007 Election: Another missed opportunity”. This is because it was believed that the election was ought to be nullified and rerun generally or in places where electoral malpractices , fraud and no election occurred.

In 2011,2015,2019 and 2023 elections that were conducted the issue of malpractices were increasingly higher in 2023 election which brought Tinubu Ahmed Bola as president.

This election (2023) highly involved vote buying on the side of the electorate, INEC officials, security personnel and even the press. The two major opposition parties to the winning party (PDP and LP) filed a suit challenging the victory of the president declared .

In summary, it is now a normal phenomenon in Nigeria that after elections, opposition parties and candidates most times feel that their mandates have been stolen and the only way to get it back is by going to the Electoral Tribunal to seek redress.

As a Law Student I, Okocha Stephenie Chidinma write to advocate for free and independent judicial system in Nigeria which will give every citizen the confidence to seek redress in the court either for electoral cases or others.