Presidential Election: Group Sues INEC, Demands Criminal Prosecution of Officials

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

A group of Nigerians under the aegis of Govindex Leadership, Empowerment and Development Foundation, has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over the alleged criminal activities of its staff during the last presidential and National Assembly elections.

The group argued that INEC failed to comply with Section 160 (I) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) and Sections 60(5) and 148 of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Govindex filed the suit before the Federal High Court Abuja by its solicitors, Ifeanyi Nrialike, on behalf of Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, SAN & Co.

They are demanding the criminal prosecution of INEC officials that compromised the integrity of the presidential election.

The group is demanding five reliefs. They included a declaration that having regards to the provisions of the Section 160 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended), Sections 60(5) & 148 of the Electoral Act, 2022, paragraph (Clauses) 38 (i), (ii) & (iii) of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, “the Defendant through her presiding officers are mandatorily required to electronically transmit, transfer or upload the scanned copy of Form EC8A result of the polling units directly to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission, that is, the usage of Bimodial Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) or such other relevant technology to upload the result into the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) immediately and in real-time after completion of the polling units voting and Results procedures but before taking the results to the ward collation Centre from the polling units.”

They also sought a declaration that having regards to the provisions of the Section 160(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(As Amended), Sections 60(5) & 148 of the Electoral Act, 2022, Paragraph (Clauses) 38 (i), (ii) & (iii) of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022, the Defendant through her presiding officers cannot competently conduct any elections in Nigeria without compliance with the mandatory provisions of the Act which requires the Defendant to electronically transmit, transfer or upload the scanned copy of Form EC8A result of the polling units directly to the collation system immediately and in real-time after completion of the polling units voting and Results procedures but before taking the results to the ward collation Centre from the polling units.

Another relief was a declaration that having regards to the provisions of Section 60(6) of the Electoral Act, 2022, the defendant, “is under obligation to compile names of the presiding officers, whether ad-hoc or permanent, who failed to upload or electronically transmit or transfer the Election results of the polling units directly to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission, that is the BVAS or such other relevant technology and send the said list to office of Inspector-General of Police for investigation and prosecution.”