Before the latest amendments to the 2010 Electoral Act, INEC could not overturn a result declared by a returning office even when it was done under duress or illegally.
On the morning of Sunday, 15 April, the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Yunusa Ari, made headlines when he illegally declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru, as the winner of the governorship election.
This is despite the fact that collation of results from the supplementary polls was still ongoing with Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a clear lead from the tally in hand.
As the news of the controversial decision spread, INEC headquarters declared that Mr Ari's pronouncement was null, void and of no effect.
A few weeks before that, INEC had withheld the certificate of return of Tudun Wada, Doguwa federal constituency of Kano State on account that the returning officer for the election, Ibrahim Yakasai, declared Ado Doguwa, the winner of the constituency elections under duress.
INEC later presented Mr Doguwa with the certificate after a supplementary election that he eventually won.
In Adamawa, the commission continued the collation of results and declared that Mr Fintiri, not Mrs Dahiru, won the governorship election. He has since been presented with the certificate of return.
How amendments softens landing
Before 2022, Mr Ari's wrong and illegal declaration of Mrs Dahiru, also known as Binani, might have been binding and would require the election petition tribunal to overturn.
Until the latest amendments to the Electoral Act as approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2022, the electoral commission had no powers to review such results or declare it null and void as any declaration made by the returning officer was final. Even though Mr Ari was not the returning officer of the election, he declared the result as the most senior INEC official in the state.
But Section 65 of the amended Electoral Act, 2022, gives INEC the permission to review, within seven days, results declared either under duress or contrary to the provisions of the electoral act and the commission's guidelines.
Section 65(1)(c) states that "The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to... declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate... 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."
History of exploitation
Politicians have previously exploited this loophole in the previous version of the electoral law to force election officials to declare false winners.
For instance, while announcing the result for the Imo West Senatorial District election in February 2019, the returning officer, Innocent Ibeabuchi, stated clearly that he was making the declaration under duress.
"I have been held hostage here for days so I'm trying to ease off and take my life home back to my children," he said. "And for the sake of that, I am calling these results under duress."
Yet, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) withheld the certificate of return of Rochas Okorocha, whom Mr Ibeabuchi declared winner under duress, a federal high court chided INEC for that decision.
The court ordered INEC to issue Mr Okorocha the certificate of return. The court also asked the commission to pay N200,000 to the former Imo State governor for failing to immediately recognize him as the winner declared by the returning officer.
While INEC obeyed the court and issued Mr Okorocha with the certificate of return, it expressed worry that politicians would continue exploiting that loophole by holding its officials hostage to declare false results.
"If electoral impunity is allowed to flourish, any individual can harass, intimidate and put the Commission's officers under duress, procure a favourable declaration and be rewarded with a Certificate of Return," the spokesperson for the commission, Festus Okoye, said.
Amended Electoral Act, 2022
Consequently, INEC asked parliament to, as part of other amendments, grant it powers to review results announced by returning officers.
Even when the lawmakers attempted to exclude that part from the amendments, Nigerians including politicians pushed until it was included.
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The National Assembly sent what is now the Electoral Act, 2022, to President Muhammadu Buhari multiple times before he finally appended his signature to make it a law in February 2022.
Other notable amendments to the Electoral Act 2022 include the release of election funding at least a year before the election as mandated by section 3(3) of the Electoral Act.
Section 34 of the new electoral law also granted INEC the power to suspend poll and fix a new date within 14 days in a case of death of a candidate before the date of election. The commission exercised this power when the candidate of the Labour Party for Enugu East senatorial district was killed days to the election.
Sections 47 and 50(2) provided legal backing for use of technology in the accreditation of voters, Section 94 stimulates that campaign commence 150 days before day of election (an increase from 90 days in the previous version) and section 84(12) requires political appointees to relinquish their positions before seeking an elective position.
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.
