***Insists FCT is not State in Nigeria
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Legal luminary Chief Emeka Etiaba has berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the way it has handled the 2023 general election, wondering the haste by the electoral umpire to declare a winner of the February 25 Presidential Election.
Speaking on Channels Television breakfast programme Sunrise Daily monitored in Abuja on Monday, Etiaba also argued that INEC did not take the status of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) into consideration in declaring the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-elect.
The Senior Advocate of (SAN) picked hole in the lightening manner the INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu concluded collation and announcements of results of the Presidential election as well as the way he made his declaration and return despite the the observations and agitation of most of the political parties that participated in the exercise.
Etiaba who was speaking on the topic: 2023 Presidential Election Aftermath, on the television programme posited that INEC has by the Provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, the powers to pause and review its performance before it progresses in error.
Said he: “Why was INEC Chairman in a hurry to conclude the elections and make a Return and Declaration when there were several complaints from many participants in the elections. He knows that Section 65 (1) of Electoral Act 2022 gives INEC seven
days to Review the Declaration it did”.
“Also, Section 72 of the same Electoral Act 2023 says INEC has 14 days to make election Returns so why the haste to declare someone who did not get the required spread and votes. The INEC Chairman could have waited to use these windows and make corrections that would have been satisfactory to the majority of Nigerians”.
Prompt News reports that Section 65 of Electoral Act 2022 on Decision of Returning Officer on Ballot Paper stated inter alia:
Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the
declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations and guidelines, and manual for the election.
(2) A decision of the Returning Officer under subsection (1) may be reviewed by an election tribunal or court of competent jurisdiction in an election petition proceedings under this Act.
Meanwhile, the senior lawyer has said that Abuja is not one of the states in Nigeria and should not be treated as one, pointing out that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is clear on the status of Abuja which he said is not one of the states.
He stated that it is for this reason that a respected legal luminary and former President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba, had prior to the 2023 general election written to INEC to seek the interpretations of the status of Abuja but he was ignored by the Commission.
According to Etiaba who stopped short of accusing the Commission of cherry picking the laws to apply and the one to ignore even as he has advised the INEC to seek the opinions of senior lawyers in Nigeria to resolve some of the ambiguities in law where they are suspected.
