EDO 2024 governorship election is beyond rerun

The Edo 2024 governorship election is beyond a rerun because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) uploaded over 98 percent of polling unit result sheets of the Edo State Governorship Election on the commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV). Out of the 4519 polling units, the electoral umpire uploaded the result sheets of 4435 polling units on the portal as of 02:00 am on Sunday. Edo’s 2024 election rerun will violate the 2022 Electoral Act.

As witnesses continue to testify in the Edo 2024 election tribunal, some APC members have asserted that there will be a re-run election. A re-run election refers to the one held after the initial poll was plagued by irregularities or when standard procedures were not complied with. For example, announcing an election inconclusive due to the number of polling units where votes were invalidated. A re-run election can be announced under electoral rules if the victory margin in an election is less than the number of invalidated votes. The Edo 2024 election is beyond a rerun because the Electoral Act 2022 and Edo 2024 election litigation processes will seek to build citizens consciousness on the statutory roles of the judiciary in dispensing elections-related justice and form part of resources for public education on the electoral adjudication process, beyond the 2027 general elections. The Edo 2024 election is beyond a rerun because the case of Asue Ighodalo in the petition before the tribunal is based on the allegation of facts of non-compliance with the 2022 Electoral Act and INEC Regulations, Guidelines, and Manuals in the Edo 2024 election during the collation of results in some Local Government Areas of Edo State, and the unit results were collated at wards and local governments. The Electoral Act 2022 introduced several novel provisions aimed at enhancing transparency and credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process. Chief among these innovations is the electronic transmission of election results directly from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database or backend server, referred to as the National Electronic Register of Election Results. This process includes uploading scanned copies of polling unit results (Form EC8A) to the INEC Results Viewing (IREV) Portal for public access on election day. Additionally, the Act mandates the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), an electronic device used for accrediting voters and transmitting voter accreditation data and results to the approved INEC electronic platforms.

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These technological advancements were deployed during the Edo State gubernatorial election held on September 21, 2024. However, some unit results were not properly collated at the wards and local government level.

“Nigerians are waiting for the Edo Election Tribunal to restore the 2022 Electoral Act and restore confidence to the judiciary.”

The Edo 2024 election is beyond a rerun because the unit’s results were collated, and INEC failed to utilise the election viewing portal (IReV) during the Edo 2024 election, which means INEC compromised the result collation process at some wards and local governments. During the Edo 2024 election, BVAS and IREV did not fail. INEC wilfully failed to use or implement IREV and BVAS, which resulted in widespread results collation irregularities that have produced two certified true copies of results from INEC before the Edo Election Tribunal. Nigerians are waiting for the Edo Election Tribunal to restore the 2022 Electoral Act and restore confidence to the judiciary.

According to Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), where the Commission receives a report and it is satisfied that a declaration/return may have been made involuntarily or contrary to law, regulations, and guidelines, the Commission shall withhold the publication of the result(s) and issuance of a Certificate of Return to the candidate declared the winner of the election.

Consequently, the Commission shall, within seven days, review such reports and the concerned result(s) and mandate the original Collation Officer or Returning Officer or a new one to make a declaration/return, which may entail the conduct of a supplementary or a rerun election. According to section 51(2) of the 2022 electoral act, “where the number of votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceeds the number of accredited voters in that polling unit, the presiding officer shall cancel the result of the election in that polling unit.”

Therefore, (2) of the same section states that “(3) Where the result of an election is cancelled in accordance with subsection (2), there shall be no return for the election until another poll has taken place in the affected polling unit.”

In September 2018, Nigeria’s INEC conducted a rerun election in seven polling units in four local government areas of Osun State due to the ill conduct of the governorship election, which saw Oyetola topping the current Gov. Adeleke.

For the conduct of a rerun in political party primary elections, section 33 of the electoral act states that a political party cannot change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted under section 29 of this act; it has to be in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate.

Section 33 of the act goes further to state that “provided that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall, within 14 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the Commission for the election concerned.”

A re-run election conducted in one polling unit or a handful of polling units can be severely disrupted by acts of thuggery, knowing full well that these few locations will determine the outcome of the election.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had on March 24, 2023, affirmed Adeleke as the actual winner of the Osun governorship election, citing evidence from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine and voters’ register. Ikpeazu had argued that Oyetola used incorrect polling unit results uploaded on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) back-end server at the tribunal.

In its judgement, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice John Okoro, whose lead verdict was prepared by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that while Oyetola argued that the presiding officers who conducted the elections in 774 polling units did not use the BVAS machine, they could not substantiate it. It said since the BVAS was the sole foundation and focal point of the appellant’s case, it was imperative that they produce the content of the BVAS in those affected polling units.

According to the apex court, based on INEC regulations and guidelines, election results can only be collated if the results agree with the figures in the BVAS and the ones transmitted to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). “It is glaring that the appellants could not prove over-voting,” the court held. The Edo 2024 election is beyond a rerun.

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The wrap-up of the PDP/Asue-Ogie case at the tribunal, the lawyers said, No need for fielding more witnesses with IReV, BVAS, CTCs, forms EC8A in evidence.

INEC has tendered additional BVAS machines, 5 precisely, added to the 148 BVAS machines tendered last week; the tendering of these machines alongside other evidential paraphernalia, including IREV and CTCs, is expected to further expose electoral malpractice roping the September 21 Edo guber; no doubt these recent developments have generated biting restlessness in the camp of APC/Okpebholo, whose lawyers were seen yesterday passionately appealing for more time to prepare their defence.

The Justice Kpochi-led 3-member tribunal’s pronounced determination and readiness to do what is right and address the issue along dispassionate lines give significant breadth to evidence of malpractice now before the tribunal.

And as INEC mounts the stage to defend itself, the world awaits how an institution charged with such electoral responsibility will extricate itself from the massive electoral fraud that ropes the September 21 Edo poll, particularly going by the compelling evidence that shows the institution’s complicity in the matter, all of which are now in CTCs as provided by the electoral body.

Inwalomhe Donald writes [email protected]