Atiku, co-travellers are daydreamers – APC
Aggrieved APC governor aligns with former VP – Aide
As attention of Nigerians shift to the presidential and state election petition tribunals, political analysts have cited at least five reasons the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari may be annulled by the federal election petition tribunal.
To these analysts, the tribunal may nullify the poll as it happened in the presidential election in Kenya in 2017, following a case instituted by the country’s opposition candidate.
In the historic ruling and the first of its kind in Africa, Kenya’s Supreme Court nullified the re-election of a sitting president, ordering a new vote to be held within 60 days after finding that the outcome was tainted by irregularities.
Alluding to this, a member of the Campaign for Democracy, Comrade Sola Olawale, said what happened in Kenya, where the Supreme Court nullified the presidential election conducted in 2017, should be an eye opener to those who are thinking that Atiku Abubakar may not get a positive result from the election petition tribunal.
He said, “It has never happened in Nigeria for an incumbent to lose at the Presidential Election Tribunal, but you should know it happened in Africa in 2017. Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate in the Kenyan presidential election filed a case against the election and the Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice, David Maraga, nullified the election of a sitting president.
“So it is not impossible to get justice at the tribunal, if one can prove his case beyond every reasonable doubt.”
HIGH LEVEL OF VIOLENCE
Many of the respondents in The Point’s questionnaire on what to expect from the tribunal said the elections might be annulled if it could be established that there were infractions that would clearly not allow the Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration to stand. To them, one of such was the high level of insecurity and violence that pervaded the election in various parts of the country.
According to both local and foreign observers, the February 2019 presidential election led to the killing and kidnapping of some people, including INEC’s ad-hoc workers.
Speaking on the situation, in an interview with The Point, President, Rights Monitoring Group, Mr. Femi Aduwo, said violence was a real danger to free and fair election in the country.
“It is sad; I am just returning from Kano. The high level of violence is uncalled for. Whoever emerges as the winner of the governorship election will have blood stain. Violence was also a feature of the presidential election. I think our security agencies should do more. We should find a way out of this violence during our elections,” he said.
VOTE BUYING
Another reason given by political observers that discredited the last presidential election was the issue of vote buying and selling.
Aduwo said, “The Election actually was commercialised by the two major political parties, the All Progressive Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party. Before this election, vote buying was done in the black market; during the last elections, it was done in the open.”
Also, a public affairs commentator, Nnamdi Okoro, said voters’ apathy, leading to low turn-out at the election, was another factor that marred the last presidential election.
“You can imagine in Lagos State with over six million people with Permanent Voter Cards, less than one and half million people voted during the presidential election. This was also the case in most parts of the country. High turnout of voters is a pre-requisite for democracy. In future, we need to sensitise the people more,” he said.
Political analysts and watchers of political events also cited lack of preparedness on the part of INEC as one of the reasons the election was not successful.
Though INEC, through its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, claimed it was ready for the elections more than a year before the election, the reality was that it battled with logistic problems throughout the elections.
INEC SERVER CONTROVERSY
Also cited as a major reason that could lead to the nullification of the election, was the issue of an allegation of manipulation of election results, especially as was revealed last week in the case of the INEC server saga.
According to the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in his deposition before the tribunal, Buhari was wrongly and unlawfully credited with votes, which were not valid.
Atiku, a former Vice President, released what he claimed to be the authentic presidential election result obtained from the INEC server.
In his petition, Atiku claimed he won the presidential election to defeat Buhari who was declared winner by the electoral body.
Atiku said he scored 18,356,732 votes to defeat Buhari, whom he claimed scored 16,741,430 votes.
Though many Nigerians are skeptical of Atiku getting any positive result from the tribunal, others believe that he has the right to approach the tribunal to seek redress if he thinks he won the election and he had been shortchanged.
However, an Abuja-based renowned constitutional lawyer, Mr. Kayode Ajulo, threw his weight behind the APC and Buhari, saying Atiku, in relying on his discovery in the INEC computer server, had played into the hands of conmen.
He said, “Hacking allows people to manipulate data on our devices, by deleting, corrupting or planting data; recovering data that have been deleted; or adding or editing to alter or add capabilities, all while erasing any trace of the intruder. Hacking is not confined to devices, but can extend also to communication networks and their underlying infrastructure.
“Therefore, nobody should be allowed to use a purported internet material that can be manipulated through hacking to rebut real documentary evidence such as record of ballot papers of voters held, especially where the custodian of such information is alleging that the purported copy from the net is fake and that no record of such exists. The bigger problem for the other party where same is alleged not to exist by the custodian automatically contradicts existence, on grounds of hacking and planting.
“This fact, therefore, raises strong suspicion about Atiku, his visit to Dubai, hiring of syndicates, visit to America and his relationship with Mr. Trump who could use his Russian connection.”
He added that Atiku and his team should be reminded that “a card reader is not an e-voting device.”
Sneering at the Atiku supporters, however, spokesman for APC’s Buhari Campaign Council, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), said, “PDP’s supporters are just jumping the gun.”
“ If they think they have evidence as claimed by Atiku, then let’s meet in court. It is wrong for them to be wagging their tongues up and down when there is a tribunal in place.
“Let’s wait for the court to decide. Moreover, Atiku himself will need to explain where and how he got his own data. I don’t think any reasonable person should join their bandwagon. They are only jumping the gun,” Keyamo riposted.
OSUN VERDICT RAISES PDP’S HOPE
Following last week’s Osun State Election Petition Tribunal’s verdict, which declared the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as winner of last year’s governorship election in the state, there are indications that palpable fear now pervades the ruling APC.
The Osun tribunal, sitting in Abuja, had ruled that Mr. Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who was declared winner by the INEC, was actually not the winner of the election.
It ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return given to Oyetola and give it to the PDP candidate, Adeleke, who it declared the real winner of the election.
Many PDP loyalists and supporters of Atiku Abubakar believe this is a positive signal and a sign of good things to come with regard to their petition on the last presidential election.
Speaking with The Point, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said, “The judgment is a clear indicator that those who set out to destroy our democracy can never triumph and that no matter how evil and injustice appear to thrive, the truth must always prevail at the end of the day.
“For those who have been desperate to destroy our democracy, this judgment has proven to them that their shenanigans will always come to no avail. This verdict, which reverberates across our nation, points to the fact that the truth will always prevail and that our party, the PDP, will recover all our stolen mandates in the 2019 general elections, particularly, the presidential mandate, which Nigerians freely gave to our candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
“Furthermore, all our candidates who have already won their elections, but whose victories are being manipulated by anti-democratic forces, must take solace in the words of the Osun election petition panel, that once valid votes have been declared and a winner emerges by majority of votes, a rerun is illegal.”
Also speaking with The Point, the spokesman of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Segun Sowunmi said, “We are happy with the judgment on Osun election because usually and dangerously so, a good number of Nigerians are beginning to think that there can be no justice in election tribunals. Therefore, we want to commend the judiciary in the Osun Tribunal for ruling according to what they saw to be right.
“The judgment has also increased our belief that the Tribunals are more than able to look at the case we brought before them and we have also brought this before them to decide on the democratic wishes of people of Nigeria which is that, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, won the 2019 presidential election, fair and square, and we are praying to God that the judiciary will also be ‘man’ enough to do that which is right for the totality of all of us in Nigeria.”
‘2019 POLL UNFAIR’
Many political analysts and watchers of political events in the country are, however, of the view that the conduct of the 2019 elections by INEC was nothing but fair.
They cited violence that pervaded the elections and wondered what INEC did with the huge sum voted for security in the budget approved for it.
Also, a public affairs analyst based in Abuja, Mr. Nnamdi Okoro bemoaned the high level of violence, which was recorded during the presidential and governorship elections, saying it led to manipulations of results at polling units and local governments’ collation centres.
“Sincerely speaking, the violence recorded in some states of the federation, which led to the manipulations of results in some states, have discredited the 2019 general elections. I think looking forward, INEC and security agencies need to brace up and ensure that the wishes of the people are reflected in the results of future elections,” Okoro argued.
In his reaction too, a legal practitioner and senior journalist with 25 years experience of covering the judiciary, Mr. Ibe Uwaleke, said the odds favoured Atiku in his quest to seek redress in court.
He said, “On a very serious note, with the evidence available, and with what is happening at the National Judicial Council and the Supreme Court, the odds favour Atiku. The judiciary feels unduly harassed in the way Buhari disgraced many judges over baseless allegations and also removed the Chief Justice of the Federation in what is seen as being politically motivated, and now is the pay-back time.”
“As someone who covers the judiciary, I often hear people say the judges said they would deal with Buhari. And If Atiku is allowed to bring forensic experts in this case, Buhari is gone,” Uwaleke analysed, claiming the knowledge of hindsight.
CRACKS IN APC
The Point, however, gathered at the weekend that there were cracks within the ruling APC, especially in states where the incumbent governors tried with no success in ensuring that their candidates emerged as their successors.
Most of those disappointed in these states are said to be re-aligning with Atiku, believing that he will get positive results from the election tribunal.
My boss, for instance, worked for the re-emergence of Seyi Makinde in Oyo State, even though he is not from Oyo State. Right now, with what played out during the governorship election, it’s like we will support whoever is aggrieved to win their mandate,” a close aide of a sidelined APC leader and governor said.
Also, the results of the governorship elections in some states like Kano, where, during the presidential election, the PDP lost with wide margins but ran closely in the governorship election, are being cited as evidence of manipulations of the presidential election.
Speaking on this, Sowunmi, the spokesman for the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation, said, “Actually our grouse with these elections is the imaginary figures being issued out in those places they claimed are their strongholds.
He said, “Take the case of Kano; it is difficult to believe that in the presidential election, the margin they claimed in Kano didn’t reflect in the governorship election. These are some of the issues we are expecting the judiciary to examine to the benefit of all of us, so that we can have a democratic process that will reflect that Nigeria is a federating unit.
“We can’t just tolerate for a long time, an idea that the other people will be voting in the South-South and South-West and some people will just sit down in some corners of the country and be allocating figures.”
