What makes a President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces believe that relating with the law the way he wishes is the best pathway to democratic governance?
Now, the consequence of President Muhammad Buhari’s seeming lack of appreciation of due electoral process, or his decided indifference to the imperatives of engaging the full complements of the composition of a board for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, or both, is the controversial outcome of the Kogi State governorship election held penultimate Saturday.
In what is turning out to be a grand conspiracy fuelled by dishonesty and made worse by sheer incompetence, the decision of INEC to declare the election inconclusive is not only a rape on the electoral process but also dangerous to Nigeria’s democracy.
From the pronouncement of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, to the belated but choreographed acquiescence of INEC and the consequential declaration by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Oyegun, on the issue of substitution, and the curious and the unintelligent push by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that Governor Idris Wada should be declared winner, it is, thus, appearing that critical provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act, as amended, can be trumped at will by a government that benefited immensely from the modest but important strides in the journey to enthroning democracy in the country.
This report will show why President Buhari, Attorney-General Malami, INEC, APC and PDP are all engaged in a gratuitous comedy of errors. It will also show why INEC should swallow its wounded pride and follow the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
KOGI BY THE NUMBERS … DONT LIE
Total number of registered voters = 1,350,883Total number of votes cast – 479,157Audu Abubakar of AP’s score’s – 240,867Idris Wada of PDP’s score – 199,514Margin of victory between Audu and Wada
– 41,000
Registered voters in canceled 91PUs – 49,000Total number of PVCs available in affected area
– 35, 785
Number of those who were accredited in the 91PUs – 19,178
WHAT IS KNOWN
The issues arising from the figures listed above can be further interrogated by identifying whether 35,785 can ever be more than 41,000. If, by sheer common sense and arithmetic deductions, 35,785 is less than 41,000, INEC would have to explain to Nigerians the logic behind its declaration of an election inconclusive. This would be so because the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Abubakar Audu, had 41,000 votes more than his closest rival, Governor Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In addition, Audu scored the constitutionally required 25% in, at least, two thirds of the local government areas of Kogi State. The state has 21 LGAs and Audu met the constitutional provision in 16 LGAs, thereby making him the undeclared winner – he satisfied the provisions of Section 179 of the Constitution and Section 69 of the Electoral Act, EA. And the number of accredited voters in the 91 Polling Units where elections are to be held is even less than the number of PVCs available.
Section 179 – 1 and 2 – says a person shall be deemed to have been elected if he scores the highest number of votes and has,
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