ABEOKUTA —The opposition Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Ogun State said yesterday that Monday's verdict of the Court of Appeal on the petition against the 2003 presidential election, especially the nullification of the results of the election in the state, was a vindication of its position that the April 19, 2003 election there was "widespread electoral roguery."
Presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), General Muhammadu Buhari, also yesterday, rejected the decision of the Court of Appeal dismissing his petition against the re-election of President Olusegun Obasanjo. He described the court’s verdict as profoundly shocking and surprising, and said he would go to the Supreme Court on appeal.
Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, on his part said the judgment had put a moral dent on President Obasanjo’s mandate, while Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, said deeper investigation would reveal that the PDP did not will the election.
In a statement, the AD in Ogun State said it had been vindicated at last by the Court of Appeal’s judgment. It said: "The Ogun State chapter of Alliance for Democracy (AD) received with utmost satisfaction and vindication the judgment of the presidential election petition tribunal sitting at the Court of Appeal, Abuja in relation to the widespread electoral roguery witnessed in Ogun State in the 419 election of 2003.
"For the record, we quote the relevant portion of the judgment as a summation of what transpired to wit: ‘All the allegations in Ogun State were criminal in nature. They ranged from violence, fingerprinting, official intimidation, bias and falsification of results.’
"All these facts, which we had highlighted immediately after the election and for which we have been vilified but now vindicated by the Court of Appeal equally shows according to Hon. Justice Francis Tabai who read the lead judgment that 'votes recorded for Obasanjo were far higher than the register of voters. In absolute term, Obasanjo received over 600,000 votes more than the governorship candidate on the same date, time and same polling unit.'
"From the landmark judgment, it is now clear that the robbers identified by the president in Anambra State were equally in Ogun State. For the president who is the acclaimed No. 1 moralist in the country and his party, PDP, the time is now for him to take the path of honour: Resign now and be remembered as a man of principle or be damned.
"For Otunba Gbenga Daniel as a ‘Christian’, we urged him to be true to his faith and resign honourably. We also demand that all the members of the state House of Assembly who benefitted from the electoral fraud as well as the lecturers of tertiary institutions in the state who were used to write fictitious electoral results and now serving in OGD administration should also resign.
"Following this judgment, the people of Ogun State should now realise that the mandate being exercised by OGD since May 29, 2003 is a stolen mandate. This is why the OGD administration sees any positive effort of the opposition as attempts to bring him down. A case of a man being hunted by his shadow.
"The good people of Ogun State and Nigeria should now appreciate the sacrifices of AD governors for the peace, progress and sustenance of our nascent democracy by our not challenging the crimes committed against the people of the state on April 19, 2003. On our part as a political party, we remain steadfast in our earlier position held in tandem with other Alliance for Democracy governors of the South-West. The entire unwholesome exercise was a brigandage committed against us and we take it as our sacrifice for the continuing peace of the nation and the sustenance of our evolving democracy."
Buhari rejects verdict
General Buhari at a press conference in Abuja said: "We are hereby giving our intention to appeal to the Supreme Court early next year having listened to yesterday’s (Monday's) judgment by the Court of Appeal with profound shock and disbelief. It is our considered opinion that this was a judgment delivered against overwhelming weight of evidence.
"Ours has been the most painstaking litigation in the history of elections in Nigeria. The ANPP and myself diligently dug out all the major malpractices committed by INEC and other government agencies during the so-called elections of 19th April 2003. Our legal team put the most comprehensive, most professional presentation ever in election petitions in Nigeria.
"Nobody was in any doubt about the gross violations of the Electoral Act 2002 committed by INEC, by the police and other law-enforcement agencies of the Federal Government. And nobody can forget so easily the unprovoked violence visited on ordinary law-abiding voters.
"The CNPP, our party, the ANPP and myself painstakingly pursued our case in the sure belief that we were taking this action on behalf of the Nigerian voters who were robbed of their choice and denied their electoral victory in the presidential ballot. We prosecuted our case in the belief that the judiciary would examine this case on its merit and hand down a judgment based on facts presented in court; facts which proved that there were no elections or no properly conducted elections in a majority of states.
"We pursued this case at great expense, at great risk to life and limb, at great inconvenience to so many supporters. We pursued this case in the sure knowledge and belief that there was no proper distribution of materials in a majority of states, there was no collation in a majority of states; in short there were no properly conducted elections in a majority of states as stipulated in the Electoral Act 2002.
"This was the opinion of the general public, of all the political parties apart from PDP, of the credible national and international observers, of the outgoing House of Representatives and the press.
"In the course of the hearings, we subpoenaed INEC to produce the EC (8) forms on which the grand total of ‘results’ they announced were ‘collated.’ Their failure to produce the form represents either contempt of court which is bad, or that the collations could not be tendered in court on account of internal inconsistencies, which is worse. In either case, failure or refusal to tender the final collated figures rendered the elections null and void according to the law. The Court of Appeal should on this score alone have nullified the elections and ordered fresh polls.
"We have no doubt at all that we have made our case. We have established cases of electoral malpractices in states across the country. As we have all witnessed, in several states, especially in the South-East and South-South zones, results were declared even though elections had not taken place there. In some of the states where elections were allowed to hold, especially in the South-West zone, ballot boxes were already stuffed with thumb-printed ballot papers before the elections.
"In several other states, especially in areas considered our stronghold, ballot papers and other electoral materials were not supplied at all. In addition, across the length and breadth of the country various kinds of electoral malpractices were observed and recorded.
"In general, money and other inducements were unashamedly used to influence voter behaviours in areas where the elections had taken place, while thugs and elements in the security forces were employed to intimidate, maim or even kill voters.
"The atmosphere immediately before, during and even right after the elections couldn’t have been conducive to free and fair elections, and much of what happened then shouldn’t have been considered acceptable polls. At least that much had been established and attested to by both domestic and foreign election observers.
"Clearly, if our new democracy could be so brazenly raped this way, and our civil society groups and other oversight institutions of the democratic system were too weak and fledgling to get us remedy, our only hope lay in the nation’s judiciary. And that was why we decided to challenge result of the presidential election at the Court of Appeal.
"No doubt, it has taken us long time to reach this stage, but we are certainly not in the least worried about the length of time. We are ready to be patient and wait, and sit it out, no matter how long it takes; because, we are not looking for quick fixes. By deciding to pursue this matter to its logical conclusion, we certainly hope to uncover the truth of the result of the presidential election.
"But even more importantly, we hope to, in the process, make example to the nation to commit and rededicate itself to the democratic process— a free and fair electoral way of choosing its leadership, and an independent judiciary system for setting the anomalies and distortions of the electoral process right.
"This is the bigger picture of our struggle and the ultimate goal of our case. If we were to terminate the struggle at this stage or at some earlier stage, what could we have said to those killed and maimed in this struggle to defend their right to electoral freedom and free choice? And what can we say to millions who had their votes stolen? "No, we would never abandon this struggle; we would pursue it to a successful end. And in any case, it has never been in our character to abandon matters half-way through. Luckily, even with respect to the polls, we have had precedents."
Sagay hails verdict but...
Constitutional lawyer, Prof Itse Sagay, hailed the Appeal Court's ruling on the presidential election, saying it raised moral question on President Obasanjo’s mandate. Sagay in a telephone chat said: "Obasanjo has enjoyed a little legal victory, but has suffered a devastating moral defeat. To say that the whole of Ogun State election was rigged and, therefore, unacceptable is evident of a wider malpractice, which both international and local observers had condemned is a serious indictment of this so-called PDP government victory.
"In Anambra State, President Obasanjo thought he was talking about Gov. Chris Ngige, but forgot that the person who did that for Ngige could have done also for him, Obasanjo. So, if you look at the whole thing it is a complete farce."
PDP didn’t win—GANI
Also reacting, Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), said deeper investigations would reveal that the PDP did not win elections in the country.
Chief Fawehinmi said "the President was indicted by the Court of Appeal for being involved in electoral malpractices in his own state where rigging was confirmed. It shows that the President is stripped naked by the Court of Appeal in his own place. What moral rights has he to lead this country?
"You recall that he lost in 1999 in his state including his local government. To change this now, he resorted to rigging. Future investigation will definitely reveal that this man did not win elections in this country. Only a few days back he confirmed that his party did not win in Anambra State in his letter to Chief Audu Ogbe that Ngige was not duly elected. Future events will show that the PDP is full of riggers."
