How To Reduce Rigging, Electoral Malpractices, By Sagay, Alegeh, Others

Renowned professor of law, Itse Sagay (SAN) on Tuesday blamed the judiciary for encouraging electoral malpractices at the highest level. “The loser to a president never wins in court. You can only know the truth in a minority judgment,” he said.

He said for instance, the 2007 elections were adjudged the worst in Nigeria’s history, yet despite damning verdict, the judiciary never nullified the late president Umaru Yar’Adua’s tainted victory, according to The Nation.

The court, he said, found that ballot papers were not serialized in line with the Electoral Act, which meant that no one could trace where they came from or were printed or what quantity was produced.

That alone, he believes, was enough to invalidate the entire process. Sagay spoke at a one-day workshop organized by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) branches in Lagos (Ikeja, Lagos Island, Ikorodu and Badagry) in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

The workshop had the theme: “Countdown to the 2015 General Elections: Are Nigerians Ready?”

Other speakers were NBA president, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), a former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo; Lagos Attorney-General, Ade Ipaye; former Secretary-General, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Malachy Ugwumadu and chairman NBA election monitoring team, Dr. Momodu Kazeem Momodu.

Sagay said while the 2011 elections witnessed slight improvements, voting patterns were highly questionable, except in Lagos State.

For instance, he said in Rivers State, President Goodluck Jonathan polled 1.8million votes compared to the governor’s 1.1million, in Delta, it was 1.3million to 535,000 for the governor and in Akwa Ibom it was 1.1million to the President and 900,000 for the governor.

It was only in Lagos that the governor polled 1.5million votes compared to the president’s 1.2million, which to Sagay, “is a normal thing.”

He said elections in pre-independence Nigeria were devoid of malpractices and violence, but those conducted from 1964 till 2011 were characterized by rigging.

He also pointed out that elections conducted by military regimes were less problematic than those handled by civilian administrations.

The professor of law said there was need to make politics less attractive in Nigeria by reducing the jumbo salaries and allowances of political office holders.

He also recommended part-time sittings for legislators as well as devolution of powers at the centre to make it less attractive.

Alegeh said the security challenges cited by the Independent National Electoral Commission as well as the inability of millions of registered voters to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were sufficient reasons to shift the polls.

“The postponement affords us the opportunity to have a proper election. It is in order for now but we will not allow any further postponement,” the NBA president said.

Alegeh also disclosed that the NBA would deploy 8,400 observers to monitor the elections, adding that lawyers had a duty to help in the success of Nigeria’s democracy.

Oyewo urged Nigerians to make sure their vote count, as the ballot is an infinitesimal power of the people to determine who governs the country.