Court stops INEC from
conducting elections
By OLA AGBAJE
Friday, February 5, 2010
A Federal High Court sitting
in Lagos yesterday declared
the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC)
incompetent to conduct
election anywhere in the
country.
According to the judgment of
Justice Mohammed Liman, the
commission as it is presently
constituted does not comply
with the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Justice Liman gave the
verdict, while delivering a
judgment in a suit brought
before him by the Action
Congress (AC) challenging
the composition of INEC and
power of the body to conduct
or take any decision as it is
presently constituted. He
held that by virtue of section
159 of the 1999 constitution
the quorum of INEC is five
members and not four as it is
presently constituted.
Pointing out the glaring
illegality in the way the
electoral body is presently
constituted, the court said:
“ On a very sad note despite
the fact that INEC consists
the most important and
indispensable bedrock on
which our democratic
institutions are built and that
it functions are central to the
smooth evolution of our
political structure it is not an
understatement to say that
without a functional INEC no
election into any political
office would be possible then
how come that in the
eleventh year of the nation’s
journey into constitutional
governance. We do not have
an electoral body with its full
complement members.
“ We continue to pretend that
all is well with our electoral
system when the membership
continues to drop from 13
down to four and it seems
that we remain complacent as
if all is well. I think that
something is wrong
somewhere and the earlier
both the executive and the
legislative department of the
government act to reverse
this shameful tread the
better for the people of the
country. ”
The court pointed out that
the four members currently
on the board of the
commission are not
competent to take any
decision in the name of INEC.
It will be recalled that AC had
in December last year
dragged INEC, its chairman,
Professor Maurice Iwu and
the three other members of
the board of the commission
alleging that the respondents
lacks the quorum to conduct
the rerun elections in Osun
state.
Apart from Iwu and INEC,
others joined as defendants
in the suit include: Philip
Umeadi, Victor Chukwuani,
Mr. A Shoyebi, and the
Resident Electoral
Commissioner of Osun state.
Before the judgment was
delivered, AC’s counsel, Femi
Falana, had sought for an
order of perpetual injunction
restraining the respondents
from taking any decision on
the election until formation of
sufficient quorum in
accordance with Section 159
of the 1999 Constitution.
However, INEC in his reply to
the suit through its counsel,
former Attorney General and
Minister of Justice, Mr. Kanu
Agabi (SAN) had insisted that
the objective of the
application is to review the
judgment and orders of the
Court of Appeal and to
frustrate indefinitely the
conduct of the election.
Agabi also argued that the
court is not competent and
does not have the
jurisdiction to entertain the
suit because it related to an
electoral matter and that
other parties involved and
that might likely be affected
by the decision are not
present before the court.
The judge disagreed with the
submission of the INEC
lawyer, according to him the
case before the court had
nothing to do with the
election petition decided by
the Court of Appeal but on
the composition of the board
of the commission.
Justice Liman noted that
reliefs sought by AC are
within the jurisdiction of the
court and that the reliefs
were never an issue before
the Court of Appeal.
He, however, refused to
grant any of the declarative
injunctions being sought by
the AC that the election be
reverse or nullified
according the judge the court
could not undo a completed
act.
The judge also refused to
upheld the prayer of AC that
the tenure of the Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC)
of Osun State during the
reran election expired he
stated that the plaintiff failed
to provide the court with any
evidence showing the date
the REC was appointed to
enable the court take a
decision.
It would be recalled that the
Court of Appeal sitting in
Ibadan the Oyo State capital
had ordered for the rerun of
elections into Osun East
Senatorial District of the
National Assembly and
Osogbo Local Government
seat of the Osun State House
of Assembly.
INEC then fixed December 12,
2009 for the rerun elections
into the legislative seats,
which became vacant when
the Appeal Court sitting in
Ibadan voided the election of
Senator Iyiola Omisore of the
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) and AC ’s candidate,
Babajide Omoworare who
boycotted the election which
was later held on December
29, 2009.
Topic: COURT STOPS INEC FROM CONDUCTION ELECTION (Read 2069 times)
