…Says PDP will offer hope, security to Zamfara people
…Electronic voting panacea for credible and sustainable electoral process.
…PDP’s letter to PCA not about bias but likelihood of bias
Friday’s Supreme Court judgement nullifying all votes previously scored by the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2019 elections in Zamfara state is not just victory for the PDP but victory for constitutional democracy in Nigeria.
National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Barr Emmanuel Enoidem, stated this on Saturday while speaking as a guest on Arise TV.
According to Barr Enoidem, with the Supreme Court judgement which nullified the candidacy and votes of all APC candidates from Zamfara state in the 2019 elections, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, remains the indisputable winner of the polls with a landslide margin as INEC is left with no other option but to act in conformity with the decision of the apex court since there is no room for an appeal.
He explained that since the PDP was the second runner up, not just the PDP Governorship flagbearer but all PDP candidates will be issued Certificate of Return and sworn in come May 29, 2019, as a result of the judgement.
Enoidem declared that with the return of the PDP to power in Zamfara, the party will offer Zamfara people hope, security and another chapter of life. “It’s a new dawn for Zamfara”, he declared.
“This particular decision of the Supreme Court has given a lot of hope to those who believe in true democracy, in constitutional democracy, in the rule of law. This victory is beyond the bounds of PDP, it is a Nigerian victory”, he stated.
“When you have a principle of law that is laid down by the highest court in the land, the benefits of that law or the value of that judgement, is not just for the people that were immediately affected by that judgement, it becomes a universal application to the entire jurisdiction within which that Supreme Court impacts”.
“The victory is not just to the PDP but victory to the masses and members of different political parties that were denied the right to nominate somebody that will be their flagbearer”.
On the declaration by the Court of Appeal that there are 736 election petitions arising from the 2019 elections, the PDP National Legal Adviser admonished the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to ensure that modalities are put in place to fully migrate to electronic voting, stating that it remains the only panacea to entrenching the much needed electoral reform that will sanitise the electoral system and reduce by over 50%, the number of post election litigation in Nigeria.
Enoidem said Nigeria cannot still be doing manual election and expect progress. He explained that the money spent by INEC to conduct the 2019 polls was double the amount spent in previous elections, regretting that despite the over #22billlion INEC requested for and collected for the installation of the electronic platform for the conduct of elections, INEC was still not sure footed about electronic voting and collation in the last elections. And this happened in spite of all the promises they made before the elections.
He noted that the country needs an INEC Chairman that is ready to serve Nigeria and not the politicians or the government of the day and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to redeem his 2015 electoral reform pledge to Nigerians by assenting to electoral amendments which has suffered withholding of presidential assent on four occasions after being passed by parliament.
“In 2014, 2015, one of the major promises that this president promised Nigerians was that he wants to clean up the electoral process by relevant amendments. But unfortunately and very unfortunately so, for four good times the Electoral Act was amended by the National Assembly but for some very flimsy excuses, the President did not assent to those amendments that would have furthered the process of cleaning up the electoral system”, he submitted.
Reacting to the PDP writing a letter to the President of the Court of Appeal to rescue herself from the Presidential Tribunal Panel rather than filing a motion, Barr Enoidem said there is a difference between bias and the likelihood of bias.
He stated that what the PDP did by writing a letter to her was the best option so as to allow her have a private access to the information PDP has to enable her analyse it and make her decision as the PDP was not talking about bias but the likelihood of bias should she continue to sit on the panel.
He explained that the controversial ruling of the tribunal on the matter has set new parameters on the issue of likelihood of bias but expressed confidence in the PDP winning its case at the tribunal.
