By Ahmad Sajoh
Come the 3rd of July 2023 the case between Her Excellency Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani and three others will be mentioned at the Adamawa State gubernatorial election Tribunal. It will mark the beginning of a historic journey to reclaim a mandate that was taken away by a flawed electoral process that must be challenged if we are desirous of ensuring that the votes of the people are truly protected.
Once the case is mentioned, the process will proceed as desired. So, this July the legal fireworks will heat up the polity. The legal arguments will dominate discussions. And indeed cautious optimism will pervade the political space.
Both sides of the divide have reason to be optimistic because that is the nature of litigations. But only one side has fear of the outcome.
The reason for the fear is that the outcome of the litigation could upstage the applecart. Beneficiaries of a flawed process may be upstaged and the sweet benefits taken away. This is enough reason for both fear and apprehension.
As for the challenger, what happens is just cautious optimism but not fear of losing any undeserved benefits.
Incidentally, as our legal system develops new innovations have changed the nature of litigations. Today what lawyers refer to as “front loading” means that the real arguments will be known from the nature of the filings made.
Everyone connected with the case knows all the major submissions of all sides. The presentations by lawyers in the courtrooms and the evidence to be adduced by witnesses will all be geared towards validating the contents of the submissions earlier made.
So the expectations should not be far away from the contents of the submissions made by the prosecution and the counter claims presented by the defendants.
There are those who see the exercise from the perspective of challenging an outcome that has been concluded. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The electoral process begins with the campaigns and ends with the litigations. That is what the legal framework provides in all liberal democracies. Going to the Tribunal to challenge the outcome is neither an aberration nor a misnomer. It is a perfect legal requirement. It is what truly concludes the process.
Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, only two times had the outcome ended without litigations in Adamawa state. So, litigations are part of the electoral process. The only reason we have off-season elections in Nigeria is because of litigation.
One flaw of the Nigerian electoral system is that litigations are not concluded before assumed winners take their oaths, and when it is established that the process was flawed they suffer no sanctions. In situations where glaring cases of compromise are established, the perpetrators are not held accountable. That’s the reason why politicians muzzle the system and get to be declared winners by hook or by crook.
One of the reforms we need in our electoral process should be one that denies undeserving winners benefits of being wrongly declared winners while those who are proved to have compromised their functions should be punished.
What are the challenges in this case?
There are four areas of contest in this case. These areas resonated throughout the submissions made by both the legal teams of Senator Binani and the three defendants. The prosecution will challenge these four areas based on the following reasons;
- Genuine human errors whereby the fallibility of the human person may have resulted in glaring errors that affected the outcome in a negative way.
- Clear evidence of compromise on the part of some electoral officials for reasons of inducements or intimidations. These are indeed the main reasons for the legal challenge. Definitely there are areas where compromises were made and these should not be left unchallenged.
- Shortcomings related to mathematical computations, which may either be as a result of genuine human errors or compromises on the part of the electoral officials. These mathematical computations are the real basis for determining outcomes. Winners are declared by the summation of results from polling units.
- Misapplication of technological devices and innovations. From available reports, a lot of these misapplications took place resulting in inaccurate computations and compromised outcomes. The very essence of using technology is to improve the quality and credibility of the process. If it is not applied correctly such a flaw must be challenged.
Recently there are people who have taken it upon themselves to wish that Senator Binani loses the case not because she doesn’t have a strong case but because they are averse to her success. This world is a funny place.
Many people wish others bad without knowing that whatever you wish for others always comes back to haunt you.
Sometimes when you see a person having multiple bad experiences at some point in their lives, know that they are paying back a huge debt of ill-feelings haboured towards others in the past.
If you cannot wish anybody good, do not wish them bad because the world is truly round and what goes around comes around.
Well it’s just a word of caution to the naysayers. Law and legality operate on the basis of evidence and proven facts not sentiments or influence.
The case in question may emanate from a political action but it is legal rather than political. And it will be adjudicated on the basis of law rather than politics.
While praying that the cases accelerate steadily in this month of July, may we also appeal to all the supporters of Her Excellency Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani to exercise patience.
The wheel of justice may sometimes roll very slowly but it will surely reach a final turn. The maximum period available to the Tribunal from the date when submissions are made to the day judgement will be delivered is six months. That is not too long to wait if you know you have a good case. So while we go to the venue in solidarity, we should do so with all the patience and decorum required.
There is nothing sweeter than a hard won victory. That is indeed our expectation. So keep faith, pray hard and be in solidarity with our slogan “Adamawa sai Matannan”
As always I come in peace