Stop Intimidating The Election Tribunal -By Ochereome Nnanna

I attended a college in Abiriba known as Enuda High School. Established in 1954 through communal efforts, the institution was pioneered mainly by teachers trained at home and abroad through the contributions of Abiriba sons and daughters. Enuda High School was Made-in-Abiriba, through and through.

We wore white shirts upon white shorts or trousers to build an imagery of elevation and civilised upbringing beyond the superior book knowledge we gained. Our college motto was written (as was the practice in those days) in Latin: Non scholae, sed vitae discimus. We do not learn just for the sake of book knowledge but also to live a (worthy) life. This is what getting educated is all about.

There was also a popular saying: “As you pass through Enuda High School, allow Enuda High School to pass through you”. When we graduate from the university, our degree certificate usually proclaims that we have been “found worthy in character and learning”. You not only made acceptable standard of academic grades, you were also never found wanting in your adherence to the rules and regulations of the university.

What it means is that a well-educated person knows where the invisible red line lies. He knows that crossing the line is a betrayal of his education. He carries the same value to any office or station of life he finds himself in. There is a big, stark difference between a properly schooled individual and his counterpart who lacks such endowment. Let us take value for human life, for instance. President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was fond of saying:

“My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian”.

Compare that with the words of a former military head of state who later occupied the same seat that Jonathan sat on when he uttered the above eternal words of wisdom garbed with nobility. Buhari fulminated:

“If what happened in 2011 (alleged rigging) should again happen in 2015, by the grace of Allah, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.’’

Let me give another example using our presidents, past and present. In 2007, Governor of Katsina State, Umaru Yar’ Adua flew the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, scored 24,683,063 in the April 27 presidential election to defeat Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP, who got 6,605,299 votes. Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, picked up 2,637,848 votes.

As with Nigerian elections, every political party helped itself to impunity in its area of dominance. Prof. Maurice Iwu’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, did a poor job. When the winner of the election, Yar’ Adua, was sworn in, he made a broadcast, admitting there were flaws in the election that produced him. He promised to reform our electoral system. True to his word, he set up the Justice Muhammadu Uwais panel on electoral reform. Unfortunately, Yar’ Adua could not live long enough to see the reform to fruition.

Compare the late President’s comportment to what we have today. Following the conduct of the 2023 presidential election, INEC under the leadership of Professor Mahmood Yakubu, had controversially declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner in spite of stident complaints about the flaws that dogged the exercise. In his acceptance speech after being awarded with INEC’s Certificate of Return, Tinubu claimed that he won the election “fair and square”. He advised those who were aggrieved to go to court. Also, Muhammadu Buhari, the departing president, claimed the process was “free and fair”. He also advised those disgruntled with it to seek redress at the Tribunal.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and the Allied People’s Movement, APM, flag bearer, Chichi Ojei, lodged their petitions with the Presidential Election Petition Court, PREPEC, presided over by Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani. Since June 17, 2023 when the court started business, all eyes have been on it. Evidences are piling up, and it seems some people are getting unsettled by the direction things are going.

Tinubu’s legal team through his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), dropped the clanger in their final submission that any other interpretation that the Federal Capital Territory is not the 37th state of the Federation would “lead to absurdity, chaos, anarchy and the alteration of the very intention of the legislature”. Many Nigerians have read this to mean the ruling party is threatening to unleash anarchy if Tinubu is removed based on the 25 per cent requirement.

The “threat of anarchy” is being taken seriously based on events of the past where opponents were threatened with bloodshed, ethnic cleansing, arson and violation of their property rights. There is an overtone ring of Buhari’s “dog and baboon” allegory. The judges are practically being warned of dire consequences if their interpretation of the law goes against specific interest. That is unacceptable.

Let the judiciary be given a free hand to do their job. No matter how the case goes, there will be no anarchy. If there was no chaos when INEC announced Tinubu as winner of the disputed election, it will never take place if a different winner emerges through the court. I applaud Justice Tsammani’s Nestorian comment:

“I want to appeal to everyone in this matter not to make sensational comments that could set the country on fire. We on our part too, will ensure that justice is given to who deserves it”.

On this we stand! Besides the FCT 25 per cent item, there are other equally weighty issues of who actually won the election based on the people’s mandate as captured on the BVAS and IReV.

Nobody, no matter how big he thinks he is, can intimidate the nation and force Nigerians to bend our constitutional order to gratify his whims and caprices.

Nigeria is still bigger than any Nigerian!