Election Petitions (568)
By Section 138 (1) of the Electoral Act, an election may be questioned on any of the following grounds.
- that a person whose election is questioned was, at the time of the election not qualified to contest the election;
- that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of this Act;
- that the Respondent was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election; or
(d) that the petitioner or its candidate was validly nominated but was unlawfully excluded from the election. Alhassan & Anor. v. Ishaku & Ors.[2016] 2 - 3 M. J. S. C .[Po 27] Paras. C-G
By virtue of the provisions of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if-
he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;
he has attained the age of thirty-five years;
he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and
he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent. Alhassan & Anor. v. Ishaku & Ors.[2016] 2 - 3 M. J. S. C .[Pp. 26-27] Paras. F-A
By virtue of the provisions of Section 139(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), an election shall not be liable to be invalidated by reason of non- compliance with the provisions of the Act if it appears to the Court or the Election Tribunal that the election was conducted substantially in accordance with the principles of the Act and that the non-compliance did not affect substantially, the result of the election. Isiaka & Anor. v. Amosun & Ors. [2016] 2 M. J. S. C (Pt. II)[Po 82] Paras. F-G
"Where, as in the instant case, a political party conducts its primaries and a dissatisfied contestant at the said primaries complains about the conduct of the primaries, the courts have jurisdiction by virtue of Section 87(9) of the 2010 Electoral Act as amended, to examine if the primaries were conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act, the Constitution and Guidelines of the party.
"Now, a pre-election matter as the phrase connotes is a cause of action which predates and does not constitute any complaint against the actual conduct of an Election. In Amaechi V. INEC & Ors (2007) 18 NWLR (Pt.1066) 42, this Court has held that issues of nomination and sponsorship of party's candidates for an election precede the election and are therefore pre-election matters." VIVIAN CLEMS AKPAMGBO-OKADIGBO & ORS v. EGBE THEO CHIDI & ORS(2015) LPELR-24564(SC) Per MUHAMMAD, J.S.C. (P. 23, paras. C-D)
Where a petitioner complains of non-compliance with the provisions of the Act, he has an onerous task, for, he must prove it polling unit bypolling unit, ward by ward and the standard of proof is on the balance of probabilities. He must show figures that the adverse party was credited with as a result of the non-compliance e.g. Forms EC8A, election materials not signed/stamped by Presiding Officers. It is only then that the respondents are to lead evidence in rebuttal. Ucha v. Elechi (2012) 13 NWLR (Pt. 1317) 330. [Po 182] Paras. B-D Nyesom v. Peters ide & Ors [2016] 2 M. J. S. C (Pt. I)
The law is trite that the results declared by INEC enjoy a presumption of regularity. In other words, they are prima facie correct. The onus is on the petitioner to prove the contrary. Buhari v. Obasanjo (2005) 13 NWLR (Pt. 941) 1; Awolowo v. Shagari (1979) 6 - 9 SC 51; Akinfosile v. Ajose (1960) SCNLR 447. [Po 181] Para. G Nyesom v. Peters ide & Ors [2016] 2 M. J. S. C (Pt. I)
By the provisions of Section 52 (1) (b) of the Electoral Act, the use of electronic voting machine is prohibited for the time being. [Po 178] Paras. A-B Nyesom v. Peters ide & Ors [2016] 2 M. J. S. C (Pt. I)
By the combined provisions of Sections 138(1) (b) and 2 and 153 of the Electoral Act, an election may be questioned on any of the following grounds:
(b) that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provisions of this Act.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is to be commended for the innovation of the Card Reader machine to bolster the transparency and accuracy of the accreditation process and to maintain thz democratic norm of "one man one vote" by preventing multi-voting by a voter. Nevertheless, Section 49 (1) and (2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which provide for manual accreditation of voters is extant and remains a vital part of our Electoral Law. [Po 172] Paras. B-D Nyesom v. Peters ide & Ors [2016] 2 M. J. S. C (Pt. I)