The All Progressives Congress (APC) had been accused by The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of arm-twisting of the judiciary and the court by an unconstitutional act of halting the collation of results in the Bauchi State governorship election which took place on 9th March, 2019 which was initially declared inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This accusation from the PDP emanated from the court injunction filed by the APC and governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar restraining INEC from continuation of collation of result from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area after INEC decided to reverse their decision to hold a supplementary election in the local government and to continue with the collation of the result of the 9th March 2019 after INEC claimed that the results from the different polling units are still in intact.
This restraining order to INEC from going ahead its plan to collate and announce the result of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area which the PDP had claimed to had had an unassailable lead in the Bauchi governorship election was issued on Monday 18th March, 2019 by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The judge of the Abuja Federal High Court, Inyang Ekwo made gave the order based on an ex-parte application filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Mohammed Abubakar. The restraining order is to last till the determination of the suit brought before the court by the two plaintiffs.
In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, he described the order of the court restraining INEC from continuation of the collation process as an unfortunate and akin to the infamous order that derailed the 1993 democratic process which received local and international condemnation.
The PDP had vehemently rejected the restraining order of the court describing it as part of the “plot” by the APC and certain compromised elements in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to escalate crisis and derail our electoral process in Bauchi state.
In rejecting the order, the PDP stated the, “The power to collate, suspend collation and or to reverse such decision based on obvious circumstances as the case in Bauchi is clearly within the domain of INEC. And until collation is completed and results declared no one can question the constitutional powers of INEC in that regard.”
The PDP cautions that if this desperate underhand measure by the APC to halt electoral processes is not checked, our hard earned democracy will fail us and our nation thrown into anarchy. They added that the APC should not constrain the PDP into a situation in which they will have no option than to allow members of the party to seek similar exparte orders to halt statutory processes including the swearing-in of APC candidates at various levels, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari on 29th May, 2019.
The PDP added that, “It is clear that collation of result is part of the electoral process and that INEC cannot act on a purported exparte order to jettison its independence and halt the collation of results, which is a key component of its statutory electoral duty. They cited reference to Section 87 (10) of the Electoral Act which they said that it is unambiguous in its prescription that “nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general election or the processes thereof under this Act pending the determination of a suit”.
The PDP however charged INEC to be properly guided by the law in this regard. They also urged the Judiciary not to allow the APC to entangle the court in its shenanigans to destroy our hard-earned democracy. The PDP reiterated that Nigerians in Bauchi state have elected their candidate in the governorship election and nothing can change the reality.
