Thread by @democracy_watch

The main problem we have had to contend with since the return to democracy is not APC - but an INEC empowered by a faulty constitution in Section 149.

Stay with me..
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In this thread, I will show you why the Constitution has made it impossible to have a free and fair election through INEC & why Peter Obi’s election petition is shaky.
Read till the end.
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Since 1999, Nigeria has had 7 presidential elections and 6 of those have ended up in court. We have had 4 different presidents from 2 political parties and 6 different people serving as INEC chairmen, and in all of this we have not been able to conduct an election that can be

considered generally free and fair because of one simple flaw in the design of the constitution.
And this flaw is known as Section 149.

Section 149(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that "in any proceedings challenging the election of a candidate, the court

shall presume that the election was conducted properly, and shall not declare the election invalid on the grounds of non-compliance with the provisions of this Act, or failure to conduct the election in substantial compliance with the principles of this Act, if it appears to the

court that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Constitution and this Act and that the non-compliance or failure did not substantially affect the result of the election."

This means that in any legal challenge to the election of a candidate, the court will presume that the election was conducted properly unless there is evidence to the contrary. The provision ensures that INEC is given the benefit of the doubt in cases where the conduct of

an election is called into question and that the burden of proof lies with the party alleging irregularities or malpractice.
This single section is the reason no presidential election has ever been overturned by the Supreme Court. In 2019, the PDP and its candidates,

Atiku and Peter Obi, called 62 witnesses to prove their case including an ICT expert, Mr. David Njorga from Kenya, and tendered 40,000 documents. The Petitioners (Atiku & Obi) tendered documents from the 36 States of the federation to support their claim that INEC deducted their

votes and added the same to President Buhari of the APC, which undermined their victory. The Petitioner claimed that information they independently secured from INEC’s backend server, revealed that they defeated President Buhari at the election with 1.6 Million votes.

At the end of the Petitioners’ case, the APC and its candidate opened their Defence and also called witnesses but INEC did not call a single witness because they did not have to.
At the end of the whole thing, the five-member tribunal led by Justice Mohammed Garba

dismissed the petition on the grounds that the Petitioners could not prove their allegation against the Respondents. The tribunal went further to hold that President Buhari was duly elected and returned as the President.

The problem with this section is the same problem sports fans can relate to. The decision of an Umpire cannot be unquestionable. This was why the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) initiative was introduced to football. INEC needs a ‘VAR’ (the Supreme Court) that can call it to

defend its actions during the elections. But Section 149 strips that power away from the courts. Just like LP and PDP are being asked to present proof beyond reasonable doubt that the election was not free and fair,

INEC should be made to present proof that it conducted the elections freely and fairly, this is common sense.
So the Supreme Court's inability to overturn rigged elections in Nigeria is simply because the constitution does not make it possible to do so.

However, the difference maker between this year's petition and 2019 is the introduction of BVAS and IREV. And in subsequent threads, I will explain how they can play a key role in helping Peter Obi restore his mandate.
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