FACT-CHECK: politician lacks the powers to seek a review of an election result; only INEC
The claims made by politicians seeking the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, to review election results in many parts of Nigeria regarding the just concluded elections are not possible.
INEC has been intimidated by my political parties in recent times as they sought the commission to review results of different elections in the country without most of the applicants knowing what the constitution and the electoral act say about election review.
The section 65(c) as signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari last year states that, “declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate: Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations, and guidelines, and the manual for the election.”
Inasmuch as we know that this particular provision of the electoral law gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its officers powers under the law, which created a crisis in the just concluded elections,
Verification of claims
A close look at Section 65 of the Electoral Act, relied on by many politicians to seek review, is not within the confines of the law, as the said section only gave the commission the powers to review election results when it believed the results were declared under duress by its staff or when they were not done according to the electoral act.
There is no provision in the amended electoral act that gives an individual the authority to write INEC demanding a review, as the act’s framers intended the commission to review results when it deemed fit, not for politicians to seek election review even if there are irregularities, and the power to determine election irregularities cannot be taken away from the court, according to the 1999 constitution as amended.
Conclusion: Political parties, individuals, or politicians lack the power or right to write the Independent National Electoral Commission to seek election result review according to the Electoral Act of 2022, as amended.