Electoral Forum advocates legal reforms to check threats to Nigeria’s democracy

A legal system reform and reassessment of Nigeria’s laws and their application have been recommended as a way of curbing the threats to the country’s elections.

At the eighth technical session of The Electoral Forum, participants discussed recent Supreme Court decisions and concluded that the judiciary must be called to account to “ensure that their rulings and judgments do not jeopardise the electoral system or our democracy”.

The Electoral Forum is an initiative of The Electoral Hub that pools resource persons from electoral management bodies together with other electoral stakeholders to conceptualise solutions to the unique problems facing electoral governance in Nigeria.

According to the session’s report, signed by The Electoral Forum Chairman, Prof. Adebayo Olukoshi, the group also expressed concern about the impact of the Supreme Court judgment on the electoral process and its negative impact on the perception of many Nigerians about the electoral process, as many people look for any excuse to validate their fears.

The Forum identified threats to the 2023 general elections, which included ongoing currency and fuel scarcity, violence, security, trust deficit, migration of voters to new polling units, judiciary, infrastructure, tight presidential race, voters’ access and voting rights, electoral technology, internal sabotage within the Election Management Bodies, vote trading, and rising youth expectations in the electoral process, as evidenced by how youths are mobilising for the election. According to the Forum these threats can be classified into three categories: Structure, Culture, and Infrastructure.

The session also identified the immediate need for the Federal High Court to review its Practice Direction, particularly on the mode of commencement of pre-election cases using originating summons.

The Forum recommended that:

• Judicial decisions on elections should prioritise substance over technicalities to ensure that justice is not perverted on the basis of technicalities and that people do not lose faith in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man.
• As they did with INEC and security, which led to improvements in election management in Nigeria, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should now focus on engagement with the judiciary to facilitate wholesome reform. Recent improvements in the conduct of security agencies in elections, as seen in the governorship elections in Osun and Ekiti States, also reflect this trend.
• To prepare judicial officers for future elections, CSOs should work with the National Judicial Institute.
• One of the lessons from the Supreme Court decision is that INEC should promptly publish political party monitoring reports and make them publicly available as a way to deter those looking to influence legal proceedings and those who might want to take advantage of technicalities to thwart justice and fairness in the electoral process.
• Technicalities in electoral court decisions should be well described to avoid misunderstandings and foster a greater awareness of these topics, particularly among the electorate.
• Recent events highlight the urgent need for legal system reform and a reassessment of our laws and their application. There is the immediate need for the Federal High Court to review its Practice Direction, particularly on the mode of commencement of pre-election cases using originating summons.
• There is a need to enlighten and educate voters and stakeholders on the process of electing people and declaration of results to prevent violence due to ignorance
• INEC needs to activate its rapid response communication system in relation to false news to make sure that the public has quick access to accurate information and prevent hackers from tampering with results from the INEC Result Viewing webpage.

Members also stated that election-related issues should not be resolved on a technical basis, and that if elections are found to be invalid, reruns should be held to ensure that electoral outcomes are solely the result of popular vote. This, the Forum believed, would engender confidence and prevent people from losing faith in the electoral process.

The Forum noted the importance of considering the high cost of elections from both the budgetary allocation to INEC and how it may affect election preparations, as well as the costs incurred by various electoral stakeholders, including legitimate logistical costs incurred by candidates and political parties during electioneering and on election days.

The Electoral Forum is supported by the MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa.