Alphonsus Nweze
A Two-time member of Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Chugbo Enwezor, has declared that the complaints against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the last election especially the Presidential Election was valid if they failed to comply with the constitution and relevant laws.
Enwezor who was the Chairman of Anambra State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary said INEC as a creation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a duty to conduct election in accordance with the Constitution which is the grand norm, the Electoral Act, 2022 and its own guidelines.
Speaking in an exclusive interview in Onitsha, the legal practitioner said if INEC has guidelines which provide for the transmission of results of the election but failed as it has been alleged by some politcal parties and admitted by INEC itself, then the result of the election cannot stand.
He said in that case the result would be quashed because there was no compliance with the guidelines which rendered the procedure for collating the results faulty, hence provided room for manipulation.
Enwezor said, “If you refer to the issue of transmission of results, you can find out in Section 38 of the INEC guidelines that INEC suppose to follow their guidelines religiously. There is no point having the guidelines and doing something different from the guidelines. The guidelines are part of the Electoral Law which must be adhered to religiously.”
He said, INEC suppose to have transmitted the results electronically or transferred to IRev after they had concluded the polling units results in compliance with the Electoral Act.
“They are required to send it to INEC results viewing portal. Was that done? the answer is no. If it was not done, it is a clear violation of the provision of the law regarding the transmission of Collation of results,” said the legal practitioner.
He said that going to Court by any party which felt cheated in the election is a part of the election process, hence the Labour Party and otter politcal parties that went to Court for redress followed the law and due process.
“Whether the Court will grant their request is a different thing altogether. But I am not enthusiastic about the Court because we live in this country.”
But he quickly added that it is not a question of one being enthusiastic but believing that the right thing to do was to take the matter to Court of law, which is Appeal Court as the Court of first instance in case of presidential election and after that the Supreme Court.
“Let’s hear them make pronouncements. They have a job to perform. That is what the law says. They have a duty to listen to the case as it is presented by the parties. And whether we have confidence in them or not does not distract from the fact that they must perform their job.”
The lawyer said that the usual quietness of the Nigerian society since the election was a clear indication that the result of the Presidential election did not reflect the will of the people of Nigeria.
He however, said that instead of resorting to chaos, acts that would breach the peace, law and order, the best reasonable thing to do was to approach the Court.
“Whether we have confidence in the court is not the issue here. The Court is here with us. The Judges are here with us. It is just like asking whether we have confidence in INEC. Whether we have or not, they have a duty to perform,” Enwezor concluded
