Comrade March Oyinki
It is quite worrisome that with the February 25 presidential election, Nigeria’s democracy hinges on two extremely critical factors, which will either help to consolidate our democracy as an acceptable system of government or completely destroy our hope in democracy as the preferred system of government. These factors are the willingness of the judiciary to adjudicate cases brough before them meritoriously and the importance of the democratic process to be guided by the rule of law.
The position of Movement for Change Worldwide, MFCW, a democratic movement, is that the outcome of the presidential election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was fraudulently distorted and grossly misrepresented, hence we condemn in its entirety the actions of INEC and the results as announced by the commission.
We equally want to categorically and clearly point out that the outcome of the petition by some of the presidential candidates against INEC in the court of law will determine to a large extent whether majority of the people will perceive INEC declaration to be fair and just. Secondly, the acceptability or otherwise of the conduct of the 2023 Presidential election by the international community, especially, foremost democracies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada, will depend on how the courts make a final pronouncement on the petitions before them.
These factors will determine whether Nigerians will continue to accept the principles and practice of democracy as a preferred form of government or to consider alternate forms of government such as the Chinese socialist republic model, which in principle, the present administration appears to be aping already by disobeying the judiciary, weakening the military and interested in the emergence of the leadership of the National Assembly.
The issue of candidates taking their grievances to court is a standard procedure stipulated in the electoral law. What is however worrisome is the manner in which the electoral umpire and the government asked the aggrieved candidates to” go to the court,” despite the controversies surrounding the elections.
On Thursday February 23, 2023, for example, President Buhari urged aggrieved persons to go to court, while reaffirming that his administration was determined to pass on a legacy of free, fair, credible, safe and peaceful elections in the country. Yet in his congratulatory message to Bola Tinubu after Prof. Mahmood Yakubu declared him as the winner of the election, president Buhari again re-emphasized that those candidates who find it difficult to take the pain of losing to go to court.
Even the INEC Chairman, Yakubu publicly declared after the election in the INEC collation center in Abuja that his commission will proceed and announce the winner, and anyone unsatisfied happy with the outcome should seek redress in court.
In advanced countries, the court is dreaded by violators of the law, but in the case of Nigeria, offenders prefer to go to court. That is so, because corruption is endemic in all sectors and institutions in the country, making them heavily compromised. The election petition by the other presidential candidates, regardless of the concerns expressed in many quarters about its ability to deliver fair judgement, avails the judiciary a golden opportunity to redeem its lost image, and once again lift law practice back to its glorious past.
Most importantly, at this critical time in Nigeria’s history, the judiciary must endeavour to rekindle the hope of Nigerians and to once again earn the trust reposed on the judiciary by the people by taking a dispassionate look at the issues brought before them.
Cormd. March Oyinki is the president of Movement For Change Worldwide (MFCW).
