*Expresses Pessimism that the election tribunal would be fair:
Civil Rights Advocacy Group:- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has faulted the outcome of the Presidential Poll February 25th 2023 in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) controversially awarded the pyrrhic victory to the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
HURIWA which says those aggrieved by the result certified by INEC should immediately challenge it in the judicial system but was quick to add that the judicial arm of government in Nigeria has since become subservient to the dictatorial executive arm of government under President Muhammadu Buhari and may not be independent, impartial and neutral in determining the election related litigation contesting the result of the Presidential Poll just as HURIWA recalled that Nigeria’s Supreme Court has a notoriety of never ever overturning a badly hijacked Presidential election since the nation gained independence in 1960
HURIWA has therefore lambasted the APC’S Presidential campaign Council for bullying the other presidential candidates who are feeling aggrieved with the result of the election to put a call to the INEC’s awarded President- elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
HURIWA said the outcome of the Presidential election as announced by INEC is fraught with inconsistencies, and should ordinarily be overturned in the court but the group said the judges in the judicial system of Nigeria lacked integrity and may go for the highest bidders in the dispensation of the so-called justice. HURIWA cited a typical example of the last Supreme court’s judgment on the 2019 governorship poll in Imo State in which the apex court coronated the candidate of All Progressives Congress Hope Uzodimma who came fourth in the poll to become the winner thus displacing Emeka Ihedioha of PDP who was declared the winner, sworn in and had served meritorious for 7 months.
HURIWA also cited the judgment of the Supreme Court in which the outgoing Senate President Ahmed Lawan who ran unsuccessfully to be APC’s Presidential candidate but when he failed he never ran for the Senatorial primary election but the apex court certified him as the candidate of the Senatorial election when he never contested at the party’s primary election.
The Rights group said it is undemocratic, irrational, irresponsible and insensitive for anyone to expect that those candidates allegedly robbed of victory by INEC would just swallow the perceived injustice and unfairness, hook, line and sinker and then fail to exhaust their constitutionally allowed right to seek judicial intervention to try to remedy the perceived failings of the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the courts of competent jurisdiction in compliance to section 6 of the 1999 constitution.
Specifically, section 6 (1) of the constitution provides thus: “The judicial powers of the Federation shall be vested in the courts to which this section relates, being courts established for the Federation”. Besides, section 6 (5) (k) states that: “This section relates to:- (k) Such other court as may be authorised by law to exercise jurisdiction at first instance or on appeal on matters with respect to which a House of Assembly may make laws.
HURIWA blasted the INECannoynced winner of the controversial poll which the Rights group believed, was manipulated, Bola Ahmed Tinubu for making a public Statement of acceptance of the rigged poll without even recognising that many Nigerians got killed by armed political thugs that allegedly worked for All Progressives Congress.
Specifically, in his accrptance spedch, Bola Ahmed Tinubu said: “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 16𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶.
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥, 𝘈𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘖𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘒𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘺𝘺𝘢, 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺.
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦, 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘙𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘪a.
𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘕𝘌𝘊 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪n𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦
𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺.
𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯. 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘉𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘝𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘒𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢.”
HURIWA faulted his statement and said the INEC declared winner is insensitive and is pretending like all was well when the election that has now thrown him up as the winner is not credible, neither was it free, fair, transparent and peaceful. HURIWA is therefore warning the judiciary not to set Nigeria on fire by failing to do substantial justice in the election petitions from the Presidential candidates that may be filed. HURIWA accuses the Supreme Court particularly of compromised and being pocketed by the executive arm of government.