Former INEC official decries lack of fear of judges among politicians

A former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Mike Igini, has expressed concern over the audacity with which politicians ask their aggrieved opponents to exercise their litigable rights. He said that it is unheard of that people are no longer afraid of standing before judges even when they are clearly in the wrong.

Igini stated that politicians in some climes are always wary of asking their opponents to go to court because there is fear that the judiciary, as the last line in the defence of democracy, would punish lawbreakers. Speaking on a breakfast show on Arise Television, Igini said, “In the United Kingdom, judges are so strict to discourage people to come to the court, that is, by delivering justice according to the law – both substantive and procedural. Whenever there is a violation of a procedure, you would be held accountable. Judges, the Judiciary held the political elite accountable in England and that is why they are afraid of the judiciary in England.

“The judiciary must remain very strict. They must discourage persons from seeing the judiciary as a safe haven for wrongdoing in our country. Societies make progress on the basis of rewards and sanctions. How can it be heard in England that a politician will be boasting that they would do whatever they like and they will go to the courts in England and get what they want?”, he queried.

Igini also faulted the timeline for adjudication of electoral disputes, saying that for Governorship election disputes, the tribunal has six months to determine the issues while the appeal court has 60 days and the apex court has 60 days as well. “During this period, all other matters before the judges are on hold because they are all at the tribunal”, he lamented.

On the post-election attacks on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used by INEC in the last election, Igini said there was nothing wrong with the technology but that the political class decided to subvert the process. He recalled how one of Nigeria’s finest lawyers and a Queen’s Counsel (QC) had flown to Nigeria just before the elections to participate in the process in Delta state but that shockingly, what he witnessed was not an election but a “crime scene”.