By Angela Atabo /Sadiq Hussain
Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI),an organisation advancing good governance and democratic rights, has called for the establishment of special election courts to handle pre and post-election disputes.
The Executive Director, KDI, Mr Bukola Idowu, made the call at the Public Presentation of the post 2023 General Election Dispute Resolution Monitoring Report with support from International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Idowu said the call was imperative because there was need to unbundle the Election Petition Tribunal (EPT),for sustainable and speedy dispute resolution.
He said election litigations were a regular feature of Nigeria’s electoral cycle and hence the election petition tribunals had remained the constitutional destination where aggrieved political parties and candidates sought for redress.
“ While legal redress is preferable to post-election conflict or violence, we have observed an increase in the number of petitions, making it increasingly difficult to separate electoral administration from adjudication at each election.
“Given this, KDI with support from IFES sought to observe the judiciary’s pivotal role in election dispute process by monitoring the EPTs’ adherence to legal frameworks all the way to the Supreme Courts.
“This monitoring effort reflects KDI’s commitment to track and compile the election dispute resolution process across the 36 states and make recommendations for improving the electoral justice system, processes, and efficiency.
“This report, a product of the monitoring efforts, navigated the intricacies of Nigeria’s judiciary in resolving post-election disputes and upholding the legitimacy of the electoral process,” he said.
Idowu said that the report revealed a multifaceted analysis of the build up to 2023 election and dispute resolution proceedings from the EPTs to the Appeal and Supreme Court, offering critical insights into the overall dynamics of the court.
He said that drawing from a rich dataset, about 1209 petitions were filed by candidates and political parties after the 2023 general elections, of the 1209 petitions, 206 (17 per cent ) were withdrawn and eventually struck out.
He added that while 110 (9.1per cent ) were dismissed, 790 (65.3per cent) were out rightly refused by the EPT panels while only 103 (8.5per cent) petitions were upheld(won at the various tribunals).”
“The data strongly indicates a significantly low success rate in post-election dispute resolution proceedings in courts.
“What we have now is that there are loads of cases and the court is busy for two years handling election matter and abandoning their regular jobs is not a sustainable process.
“So we should be looking at getting a special court for electoral matters because it looks like those matters have come to stay, we have election every year now due to off-circle elections emanating from court cases.
“So we need to begin to think of how we can sustain the process by using electoral courts to deal with some of these things,” he said.
Idowu that the report also noted a gender lens, adding that 1,556 females contested in the 2023 elections out which 77 won and only 46 out of the 77 females were currently defending their victories at the EPTs.
He said female candidates were not investing resources in and energy in litigation despite the huge record of voter intimidation, suppression and other gender-based irregularities.
He said that the factors responsible included underrepresentation in politics, social cultural norms ,violence, limited resources, lack of institutional support and lack of confidence in the legal system.
He therefore ,said the report recommended capacity building ,financial support ,legal assistance political reforms among others to encourage them.
Idowu recommended that due to the general nature of election, petition should be upheld and regarded with utmost importance.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),represent by Prof. Kuna Mohammad, his special adviser, commended the initiative for throwing more light on election dispute adding that the commission had put in place such mechanisms to address grievances.
“The public presentation of the report is a welcome development and ties in into the work that we do.
“The report will be an invaluable addition to the commission’s election dispute resolution effort as it will surely before for other electoral stakeholders,” he said. (NAN)