2023 Elections: INEC ‘Danced Naked In The Market’ – Appeal Court Slams Electoral Body

• INEC’s role in election disputes should be limited to tendering election documents and explaining their purpose and method of acquisition.
• The court ruled that INEC should stop dancing naked in the market, stating that no one should see its nakedness and steps.

A partisan criticism of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner, or INEC, was levelled by the Court of Appeal, which convened in Abuja on Friday.

In an electoral dispute, the Commission might appear before the appeal court and support a party by denying that it had issued and properly certified certain documents, the appellate court said, calling this embarrassing.

Although intended to take a neutral stance in election litigations, it was bemoaned that the electoral body has persisted in “dancing naked in the market.”

“The INEC as an institution should be reminded of its role in an election; to be an unbiased umpire between parties.

“It should stop behaving irresponsibly, having in mind that its duty to conduct election has a direct bearing on peace and well-being of the country.

“The role of INEC in election dispute should be limited to the tendering of all the documents used in an election and explaining what they were used for and how they were obtained.

“INEC should stop dancing naked in the market, pretending that no one is seeing its nakedness and its dancing steps,” the court stated while delivering judgment in a Bauchi State House of Assembly election appeal.

The court made the remark in an appeal brought before the court by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the election, Khalid Abdulmalik-Ningi.

INEC had declared that Suleiman of the PDP polled a total of 16, 866 votes to defeat his closest rival, Abdulmalik-Ningi of the APC, who scored 15, 065 votes in the election that was held on March 18.

However, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, the APC candidate lodged a petition before the State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

INEC, a respondent in the matter, denied the claim that there was over-voting, it failed to produce any witness before the tribunal, which eventually dismissed the petition.

However, the panel, in its unanimous decision, nullified the election of the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman, who was earlier declared the winner of Ningi Central Constituency in the state by INEC.

The court held that evidence before it established that the election was inconclusive.