The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has petitioned the National judicial Council (NJC) over the ex parte order, issued by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, stopping the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from concluding the governorship election in Bauchi State; saying the order violated the Constitution, and Section 87(11) of the Electoral Act. Rejecting what it called “the arm-twisting of the judiciary and the court by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to unconstitutionally halt the conclusion of collation of already declared results in the Bauchi governorship election,” the PDP urged the NJC to save the country’s democracy by taking an urgent step against the order.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said the petition was filed in an affidavit sworn to by the PDP’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, in Abuja. Insisting that the collation of results was a post-election event under section 87(11) of the Electoral Act; and that no court has the power or jurisdiction to stop any election pending the determination of a suit, the petition noted that: “the order of Justice Ekwo was made contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as amended dealing without fair hearing and also section 87(11) of the Electoral Act.”
According to PDP, the power to collate, suspend collation and or to reverse such decision based on obvious circumstances as the case in Bauchi is clearly within the domain of INEC. Until Collation is completed and results declared, no one can question the constitutional powers of the electoral body: INEC, in that regard. “That the Chief Justice of Nigeria has constituted the various Election Petition Tribunals in Nigeria to handle such cases and the assumption of jurisdiction by Justice Ekwo is an affront to the constitution and electoral wishes of the people of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area and Bauchi State”
On Tuesday, Justice Ekwo issued the order after hearing an ex parte application filed by the APC and the incumbent Gov. Mohammed Abubakar. In the motion, APC and Abubakar prayed the court for an order of interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding or announcing the result of Tafawa Balewa LGA of Bauchi State. The order will last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs, challenging the decision of the electoral body to reverse itself and proceed with the collation of results in some disputed areas.
The PDP rejected the order describing it as a violation of the Constitution and Electoral Act, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to sit on a matter that ought to have been handled by an election petition tribunal. It added that in granting an ex parte order stopping from concluding the governorship election in Bauchi State, Justice Ekwo violated Section 87(11) of the Electoral Act, “which states that no court has the power or jurisdiction to stop any election pending the determination of a suit.” If the APC and its candidate take issue with the process, their recourse should be to the election petition tribunal.
The PDP regretted that as a result of the order on INEC, the conclusion of the Bauchi State Governorship election which was to take place on 19th March 2019 was stalled. Though INEC said it has complied with the order, it was however challenging it. Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education said the commission has filed a motion on notice, challenging the jurisdiction of the court in granting the order.
”The motion has not been taken. Until that motion is taken, the court order barring us from collating the result of Tafawa Balewa area subsists,” he said. Although Okoye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja, that the commission has stopped the collation of the governorship result, he said the collation process would continue in the state assembly elections in the affected areas.
INEC initially declared the governorship election in Bauchi, along with the elections in Benue, Plateau, Sokoto, Kano and inconclusive. It also announced that supplementary elections would take place on 23 March. But in a sudden twist, INEC said it would no longer hold supplementary elections in the contentious Tafawa Balewa LGA, where it said the result of the poll on March 9 was torn by an armed gang. INEC also said it has appointed a new returning officer for the council and that collation would resume on Tuesday. INEC said a fact-finding committee headed by Okoye recommended that the results of polling units in the council should be upheld and then cancelled the planned election in the council.
INEC’s volte-face angered the APC candidate and the incumbent governor, Abubakar and his party; who challenged the INEC decision in court. There were accusations about denial of fair hearing by the Okoye committee and that the committee was compromised because Okoye has some relationship with some PDP leaders, such as Speaker Yakubu Dogara. After listening to the applicants’ lawyer, Ahmed Raji (SAN), Justice Ekwo ordered INEC to appear before him on Tuesday to show cause why the order sought by the plaintiffs should not be granted.
But instead of complying with the court order, INEC represented by Tanimu Inuwa (SAN), approached the court with a motion challenging its jurisdiction. Raji however objected to INEC’s application, informing the court that the order issued on Monday asking INEC to show cause why the requests of the plaintiffs should not be granted had not been obeyed. He told the court that the matter before the court was to determine whether the earlier order had been complied with; and drew attention to a statement by Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education Committee, dated March 15, announcing the electoral body would resume collation of the Bauchi governorship election.
He noted that except the court grants the interim order, the subject matter of the substantive suit would be destroyed. Responding, Inuwa admitted that the order had not been complied with and requested to address the court orally on the issue. His request was however refused by the judge.
Justice Ekwo held that since the ex parte application was in writing and duly served on INEC, it behoves the defendant to appear before the court with a written or formal response. In his ruling, the judge granted the interim injunction restraining INEC from resuming, concluding and announcing the governorship election result in Bauchi State, pending the determination of all issues raised by the plaintiffs in their originating summons. Ekwo also granted accelerated hearing and ordered the parties to appear before him today to present their positions in the substantive matter. The plaintiffs in their originating summons are challenging the decision of INEC to resume collation of results of the election earlier declared inconclusive. They prayed the court to compel INEC to go ahead with a rescheduled poll slated for Saturday, March 23, rather than reversing itself on the earlier announcement.
But the PDP argues that such an action is not known to law because a post-election process can only be handled by an election tribunal, since no court has jurisdiction to stop that process. The PDP noted that If the APC is aggrieved, the party should wait patiently and approach the tribunal when the final result is announced. The PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said: “Such development, which is akin to the infamous order that derailed the 1993 democratic process, is part of the plot by the APC and certain compromised elements in the Independent National Electoral Commission to escalate crisis and derail our electoral process,” warning that it may set the wrong precedent that may open up a floodgate of injunctions for those who are foreseeing defeat in an election.
Meanwhile, some women staged a peaceful demonstration at INEC’s Bauchi headquarters. “We want INEC to declare the PDP candidate, Kaura (Bala Muhammed), as winner. But some selfish people want to steal our mandate,” said one of the protesters.
It is worth-noting that the same Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court Abuja on Wednesday refused to stop the collation of results of Rivers State Governorship and House of Assembly election conducted by INEC on March 9, 2019. Following the report of its fact finding committee on Rivers election, INEC had fixed Wednesday, March 20, for the resumption of collation, conclusion and announcement of the remaining results, which had been suspended after some military personnel and armed men invaded the collation center in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In announcing the resumption of collation of the results, INEC disclosed that it had in its custody results from 17 JGAs.
Following the announcement, the African Action Congress (AAC), Biokpomabo Awara and Ben-Gurion Peter, filed an ex parte application before the court, seeking to stop INEC from resuming collation of the election results. Defendants in the ex parte application are INEC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a bench ruling, Justice Ekwo who refused to grant the application held that the reliefs sought by the applicants are “such that the court cannot grant without hearing from the other party.” Justice Ekwo however ordered the plaintiffs to put the respondents on notice to come and show cause why the prayers of the plaintiffs should not be granted. Questions are now being asked why and how the same Justice Ekwo ruled differently in the Bauchi elections; maybe because the plaintiffs in Bauchi was the ruling APC party and its candidate.
