With just five days to the presidential elections of Saturday, February 25, 2023, this report will endeavour to explain how we got to this point of transitional elections. Of critical importance in this discourse (the first, in a series) would be the interrogation of the roles political parties have played in the process.

Starting with the pre-primaries, primaries and post primaries’ activities of the parties, the report would attempt to determine whether the parties have conducted themselves in a manner that suggests dignified conduct or not. In doing that, the letters and spirit of the Electoral Act, 2022, would be our guide, particularly the sections that deal with primaries and their conduct, as well as the provisions meant to sanitise the process.

The judiciary, to which all aggrieved persons must turn, would be examined in the light of decisions it has taken, decisions that continue to create confusion in the polity, leading to palpable apprehension whether the judiciary can, indeed, be trusted to dispense justice to all concerned, especially after the presidential, governorship and legislative elections expected to be intensely contested with the concomitant plethora of litigations that would arise therefrom.

By Jide Ajani, General Editor

If anyone needed any indication that the leadership of the political parties have not learnt anything from past errors of omission and commission, all the person needs to do is look at the conduct of the primaries of the various political parties contesting in the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. Not just the primaries, even the process of emergence of the leadership of the parties left much to be desired.

The Parties

There are 18 political parties seeking the presidency of Nigeria. Of the 18, there are four major parties referred to as the ones with the front runners and they are the All Progressives Congress, APC, with Bola Tinubu as presidential candidate; the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi; the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

Then, there are two other parties, African Democratic Congress, ADC – Dumebi Kachikwu; and the Social Democratic Party, SDP – Adewole Adebayo. These latter group of two, apart from the earlier mentioned four, are the candidates you see campaigning, even if feeble.

Whereas there are 12 other candidates, attaching their names to their parties may be a fool’s errand because of the seeming inconsequentiality of their participation. For instance, in the same presidential election, there are Kola Abiola, Omoyele Sowore, Hamza Al-Mustapha, and others.

The manner of emergence of the members of the National Executive Committees, NECs, as well as the National Working Committees, NWCs, of the three major parties laid the foundation for what became a rancourous presidential primaries for most of them. The PDP, for instance, got its national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, through a process of hijack of the party by the state governors, led by Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

For the APC, Abdullahi Adamu was imposed on the party by President Muhammadu Buhari. For LP, its seeming consignment to the realm of insignificance was almost a foregone conclusion until Obi dumped PDP for LP. Once Obi infused LP with momentum, there arose a mild drama as to the legitimacy of its chairman; but the controversy was quickly quashed and, so, Julius Abure’s chairmanship of the party was accepted by members.

Now, the unenviable linkage between the emergence of the national chairmen of PDP and APC laid the foundation for the controversial presidential primaries of both parties. Whereas, on the surface, democracy triumphed at the primaries, the underhand deals and schemes that led to the emergence of Atiku and Tinubu became the Achilles heel of their campaigns.

Whereas Wike, riding on a mechanical wave that lacked the gravitas to transport the sentiments of power shift into reality, thought he had the ticket in the bag, only to be defeated by Atiku. Also, believing that being the first runner up was all an individual needed to be chosen as running mate to the candidate, Wike could not see beyond his nose that a presidential contest goes beyond the display of sheer brute.

After his second disappointment of not being chosen, Wike turned to the issue of power shift, having earlier sworn that he would support whoever emerged. Mind you, as if the PDP has a symbiotic relationship with not keeping promises, Ayu, after his election, promised that if a fellow northerner emerged as presidentisl candidate of PDP, and the leadership of the party wanted him to step down, he would do so, as a mark of sacrifice.

He has not stepped down because, as events have shown, the national leadership of the party seems to be on the same page with the presidential candidate. This has affected the campaigns of the party as there are five governors who continue to play foxy, and are working against the interest of Atiku.

By the same token, the APC is embroiled in a dangerous game of self-sabotage. But unlike the PDP, the acrimony bedevilling the APC continues to have a reverberating effect on many innocent Nigerians because it is the ruling party. Tinubu, obviously not Buhari’s choice, has had to contend with institutional sabotage from both the party and Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

Alleged to have bought up aspirants and delegates to emerge as the party’s candidate, and pouring cold water on Buhari at the primaries, there appears to be some within the party who still do not appear ready to support him. He knows this and has also been very vocal in insinuating same, even attacking the government of the day birthed by his party for which he admittedly mobilised support in 2015 and 2019. The recent Naira policy of the Federal Govenment of Nigeria is seen by Tinubu and his supporters as being targeted at him.

Yet, Saturday’s election is not limited to the presidency alone. There are senate and house of representative seats to be vied for – 109 and 360, respectively.

Primaries and Electoral Act

In almost all the states of the federation, the primaries conducted to fill candidates for senate and house of representatives seats suffered set backs.

Part of the problem happened to be the less than enviable roles played by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

If INEC is not disowning the reports of its Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, whom it legally empowered to organise and monitor primaries of political parties, it is engaging in disgraceful doublespeak which ends up leaving Nigerians more confused and perplexed.

Provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022, states clearly how candidates can emerge for political parties.
Under section 84(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, monitoring of party primaries by INEC is mandatory. The Act used the word, shall, twice, to underscore the importance.

It states that “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the Commission”
Section 29(1) of the 2022 Act provides that only “candidates that emerged from valid primary” can be submitted to INEC for publication.

Section 84(13) states that where a political party fails to comply to the provision of the Act, INEC shall reject the names submitted to it by political parties.

Although, in a July 9, 2022, press release issued by Festus Okoye, Esq. National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, the Commission made its position clear.

Inter alia, Okoye stated in the release, “…. In relation to the primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North senatorial districts, the Commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our state offices. For this reason, the Commissioon did not publish the personal particulars of any candidates for the two constituencies at variance with the state reports.”

Sources at INEC informed Vanguard that political parties, particularly the ruling APC, mounted pressure on the leadership of the Commission.

Vanguard was made to understand that some of the back and forth that went on about names published by INEC as candidates, some of who did not even participate in primaries monitored by INEC, or did not even purchase nomination forms, may not be unconnected with underhand moves which went on between the parties and some officials of the Commission. Vanguard was told that some of INEC’s recent publications containing names of those whose nomination fell short of legal requirement is a “testing of the waters because the Lawan and Akpabio situations became very notorious and delicate”.

So, what happened?

Practice Direction, Electoral Act and Judiciary

Honourable John Terhemba Tsoho, the Chief Judge, Federal High Court, on June 28, 2022, signed into law a Practice Direction for Pre-election matters. According to him, ”in exercise of the powers conferred on me by virtue of Sections 254, 285 (9), (10) and (14) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Sections 29(5) and 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended) and all other powers enabling me in that behalf, I, JOHN TERHEMBA TSOHO, the Honourable Chief Judge, Federal High Court, issue the following Practice Directions to the Federal High Court. What this direction does (or was meant to do), is to ensure that rules of engagement in instituting litigation regarding the outcome of primaries are strictly adhered to.

Unfortunately, the Practice Direction suffered huge losses in the hands of litigants, mainly politicians.
Curiously, however, the courts did not appear to have clothed themselves in shining armour.

However, the judgment of the Supreme Court on any matter, while not expected to make all parties concerned happy, enjoys the benefit of finality.

The leters of the Electoral Act and the Practice direction as instituted by Justice Tsoho, were meant to compliment one another in the discharge of cases before the courts.

The most controversial of all the judgments were those of Senator Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom North West) and Senator Ahmad Lawan (Yobe North).

Section 115(D), in respect of nomination offences, states that it is an offence when “a person…signs a nomination paper or result form as a candidate in more than one constituency at the same election”.
Akpabio and Lawan both contested the presidential primaries of the APC but lost.

How they suddenly transmuted into senatorial aspirants were of concern to many Nigerians.
In Akwa Ibom North West, DIG Udom Ekpoudom, won the primaries and it was monitored by INEC.
In Yobe North, Bashir Machina emerged APC senatorial candidate.

In both primaries, which held before the APC presidential primary and which were monitored by INEC and reports of the exercise sent to INEC headquarters in Abuja, neither Akpabio nor Lawan contested.

How the Supreme Court arrived at its decisions in both instances have left many Nigerians wondering about the statutes that informed such decisions.

As Nigerians prepare for the presidential and federal legislative elections on February 25, whatever happens in terms of voters’ choice may not be sacrosanct as the letters of the Electoral Act 2022, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and the interpretation which spirits which direct the judges at the election petition tribunal, appeal court and Supreme Court dictate, would be the ultimate decider.

(TOMORROW: The presidential candidates, their campaigns and their manifestos)