The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Monday, May 27 that it had so far withdrawn 64 certificates of return to lawmakers-elect and re-issued them to persons declared winners by the courts following the 2019 elections.
The chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood, disclosed this at the presentation of certificates of return to Zamfara State People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governor-elect, Dr. Bello Matawalle and his deputy, Mr. Mahdi Gusau.
Others were the three senators-elect and seven members of the House of Representatives-elect under the platform of PDP.
Twenty-four certificates of return would be presented in Gusau to winners of the state assembly elections on Friday.
Yakubu reiterated the importance of conducting proper primaries by political parties before elections in order to reduce the spate of litigation associated with them.
“At the moment, there are 809 pre-election cases pending in various courts across the country challenging the conduct of primaries by political parties for the 2019 general elections.
“This is clearly more than the total number of petitions currently before the various election petition tribunals nationwide challenging the outcome of the main election.
“In our last update, the Commission reported that 25 certificates of return had been withdrawn and issued to persons declared winners by courts of law. Since then, three more certificates have been withdrawn by court order. Commander 1 Brigade emphasizes on Inter-Agency collaboration, cordial civil-military relations to combat insecurity.
“With the Zamfara case, the figure has now risen to 64. In addition, the Commission is studying nine more judgments we were served in the last one week in which primary elections conducted by different political parties were upturned by the courts,’’ he said.
Yakubu said the Zamfara example is not the first pre-election case determined by the Supreme Court arising from the recent party primaries.
He recalled that earlier, the apex court had determined the case of Lere Federal Constituency in Kaduna State which the Commission had already complied with and issued the certificate of return to the winner.
He said Nigeria’s democracy in particular and the electoral process, in general, could never be virile unless political parties rise to the challenge of internal party democracy.
“It is in this context that the latest judgments of the Supreme Court are crucial steps in strengthening our electoral jurisprudence,” he said.
Going forward, the INEC chairman said the commission would not accept the submission of names of candidates by political parties under Sec. 31 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) unless there is evidence, monitored by the Commission, of compliance with the provision of Sec. 87 of the Act.
“Party members interested in contesting elections start as aspirants before they emerge as candidates through the democratic process of direct or indirect primaries enshrined in Sec. 87 of the Electoral Act.
“It is only after they comply with the requirement that their names can be submitted to INEC under Sec. 31. We shall continue to work with the political parties to ensure strict compliance,’’ he said.
