Renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Robert Clarke, has pointed to the 1999 Constitution as the root cause of persistent electoral disputes and asserted that these issues will persist until the law is amended.
Clarke, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on Thursday, criticized the 1999 Constitution for granting excessive power to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His remarks came in the wake of a Supreme Court judgment upholding President Bola Tinubu’s election.
“The problem today is that the system we have, except it is rigorously looked into, we will continue for every four years to do the same thing we are doing for the next 20 years. I started with this constitution in 1999; today, 2023, there has been no difference. Every four years, we do a roundabout in trekking and come to the same point,” Clarke said.
“We have done about six election petitions and the Supreme Court has never set aside any presidential election in Nigeria. Why should they, when the law says whatever the umpire does is by law presumed to be right?
“So, once the umpire which is INEC presents documents to the tribunal and says ‘I have done my job, these are the results, if you are not happy come and challenge me and bring your own result’.
“That is what is happening. We have to make sure INEC is not given that advantage to present document and the court has no option than accept them as correct.”
“For us not to come back in four years’ time to come and be talking the same thing that we are doing today, we must amend the 1999 Constitution to remove that section that says to be able to contest an election you must belong to a political party,” the senior lawyer added.
Addressing the recent appeals by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) against Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Supreme Court, Clarke attributed the outcomes to the strategies of the lawyers representing the litigants.
He suggested that a different outcome might have been possible if they had pursued a different legal approach.
In the recent ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the victory of Tinubu, upholding the decision of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal from September 6, 2023.
The court found that the appeals made by the opposition regarding fraud, violations of electoral laws, and Tinubu’s eligibility to run for president lacked merit.