[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f the earlier arrest and detention of the Akwa Ibom INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) by the Department of State Security (DSS) was not enough infraction on the law that undermined the rule of law, given that the basis for such an unwarranted arrest is before the Elections Tribunal that is still in the process of adjudicating the matter and did not make any such order, the arrest of yet another REC by the DSS, this time that of Rivers State, also of the South – South, currently the stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party, has taken partisanship to an all time high.
Never in the history of Nigeria have the respected members of the INEC been so intimidated by security forces on the possible orders of any Commander in Chief on the basis of partisanship and the thrust of their independence so decimated that one wonders if we are in the same country in which successive governments have fought a hard battle to uphold as a thriving democracy in Africa strengthened by the rule of law.
What are the issues? That the elections in the South – South were marred by irregularities; that President Buhari reasonably ought to have won with a landslide across the South – South, the stronghold of former President Jonathan, or that the declared votes weren’t commensurate with the accurate turn out of voters or as was reflected by the famous card-readers? For goodness sake, aren’t these issues the very reason the Election Tribunals were set up to exhaustively determine?
On what basis, therefore, is the DSS intervening in a matter that is of the exclusive purview of the Election Tribunal? Are these infractions, themselves, not prejudicial and contemptuous of the Tribunal proceedings? The DSS, from available records does not have the mandate of the Election Tribunal to conduct any investigation into the elections in Rivers State, so on what basis is it interfering with a matter currently before the Court of law that it is not a party to?
From all indications, the DSS is being used to play the script of the ruling Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), an action and strategy which would have denied the APC victory if State institutions were compromised for the benefit of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or former President Jonathan.
That aside, the APC ought to reasonably know or perhaps knows that apart from the candidacy of President Buhari, its Presidential Standard bearer in the just concluded General Elections, it fielded no candidate in the General Elections for not meeting the 21 days mandatory notice to INEC for conduct of Party Primaries across the country. This is strengthened by the position of the Supreme Court in
DANGANA V. USMAN on the 24th of February 2012 and reported in (2012) All FWLR PT 627 pg 612, (2013) NWLR, PT 1349 pg 50.
Could this then be the reason these grievously unlawful underhand tactics are being deployed to compromise the outcome of the elections? How possible, if one may even ask, can these ungodly and draconian attempts at subverting the rule of law, the cause of justice and the mandates of Nigerians lead to overturning the outcome of elections where the APC has no locus standi to claim any right?
Nigeria’s democracy is founded on the rule of law. President Buhari’s acclaimed reputation of integrity stands the risk of being undermined and rubbished by these unlawful infractions on the very life of our democracy. The change that Nigerians yearned for and the basis of the President’s mandate was not to put Nigeria on the reverse gear. A stitch in time, as it is said, saves nine.
Oraye St. Franklyn, a strategic communicator and good governance advocate, writes from Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He tweets from @RealOraye. He is also on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
