Imo: INEC and cases of missing logos
It is unpardonable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to exclude certain political parties from the elections through the omission of their emblems from the ballot paper. In the governorship election, the Democratic Peoples Federation Party (DPFP) and the Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) could not participate because their logos were not on the […]
It is unpardonable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to exclude certain political parties from the elections through the omission of their emblems from the ballot paper.
In the governorship election, the Democratic Peoples Federation Party (DPFP) and the Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) could not participate because their logos were not on the governorship ballot paper. Despite the fact that the parties had governorship candidates who were validly nominated, their flagbearers could not get their deserved votes because their logos were conspicuously missing.
The losses suffered by these political parties are monumental. First, they paid nomination fees; spent funds campaigning round the 305 wards and the 27 Local Government Areas in the State. They also took risks and expended energy. These efforts ended up as wastes because their supporters were eventually disenfranchised.
Another political party which also suffered loss as a result of the unlawful exclusion of its logo is the Labour Party (LP). Its logo was omitted in the House of Representatives election for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was also excluded from the National Assembly election in the Okigwe South Federal Constituency as a result of missing logo. This means that the Imo Governorship election and the House of Representatives elections in the affected constituencies have legal encumbrances. Whether these elections will stand or not will be determined by the Tribunal in Owerri.
It is unfortunate that despite the fact that most of these political parties sent in petitions to INEC before the commencement of voting, INEC went ahead with the election.
In the governorship election, the DPFP petitioned INEC and was ignored. According to the leaders of the party, after INEC had excluded the party from the National Assembly elections, the party petitioned and complained about the exclusion. INEC assured the party in writing that the mistake would be corrected in the governorship election. This was never done as its governorship candidate could not participate in the election due to the exclusion.
Professor Wole Soyinka insistence to pursue the case of the DPFP to a logical conclusion is, indeed, a step in the right direction. Soyinka, who is the founder of the party, had reasoned that if INEC was allowed to get away with the cases of unlawful exclusion, it could deliberately exclude candidates who have the potentials to win election just to brighten the chances of certain candidates. This portends serious danger to our democracy. Soyinka agrees to this when he expressed the view that unlawful exclusion of parties from election poses serious dangers to our democracy.
Another serious implication of the exclusion of some candidates from the governorship election is that the Imo governorship election remains inconclusive until those who were excluded are given the opportunity to re-contest. Already, the affected political parties have taken their cases to the Imo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Owerri.
The Electoral Act 2010 stipulates that where a party has been unlawfully excluded from an election, after it has already nominated candidates for such election and duly completed all the nomination processes, such election would be cancelled and a re-run fixed to give all the parties in the election a level play ground.
INEC deserves knocks for the shabby manner in which it handled the governorship election in Imo State. In addition to the exclusion of two major parties from the election, INEC also conducted what it called a supplementary election outside the constitutionally prescribed thirty (30) days to the end of the tenure of the past Governor of the state (Ikedi Ohakim).
The fear in Imo today is that the governorship election still faces serious challenges despite the fact that Owelle Rochas Okorocha was declared the winner. The two parties that were excluded are still agitated and are ready for war if there is no redress. This simply brings Okorocha to a point where a judicial pronouncement is required on his election.
Ken Agbakwuru, the candidate of the Labour Party for Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency who was excluded from the election insists that he actually went to the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Selina Okkoh, before the election began, to complain about the omission of his party’s logo from the ballot. Inspite of this complaint, he said that the REC went ahead with the election. According to him, INEC even declared figures for polling units where presiding officers exercised discretion and stopped the election for the missing logo.
Since the constitutional remedy for unlawful exclusion is cancellation, the tribunals are expected to act accordingly and ensure that the feelings of those excluded from the elections are assuaged.
Eze wrote from Owerri