The Supreme Court judgement on the Edo 2024 governorship election has grave implications for constitutionalism, democracy, and the rule of law as regards the conduct of the 2027 elections in Nigeria. Nigerians have expressed worries over the continued erosion of the integrity of the elections judiciary in Nigeria, saying that it portends grave danger for the growth and development of the country. The judiciary in Nigeria has come under severe criticism from eminent Nigerians, following the controversies that trailed some judgements like the Edo 2024 election and others across the country and the actions of some judicial officers, which have brought the once-respected third arm of government into disrepute. Judges now pass political judgements without regard to electoral laws. The Supreme Court has abandoned the 2022 Electoral Act. In the 2027 elections, Nigerians will not rely on BVAS, IREV, or FORM EC8A to win the election, but Nigerians will depend on guns and violence to win. The Supreme Court passed judgement on the Edo 2024 governorship election dispute without relying on provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.
The judiciary is increasingly seen as a tool for political manipulation and no more as the last hope of the common man. It has also been criticised for meddling in election disputes by deciding the eventual winner, not minding the choice or will of the electorate, and having no regard for the 2022 Electoral Act.
The outcome of the Supreme Court judgement on the Edo 2024 election has further eroded judicial trust in the conduct of Nigeria’s 2027 elections and future elections. Recently, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, expressed deep concern over persistent allegations of corruption, judicial delays, and bias that continue to plague the country’s judiciary, despite ongoing reform efforts.
Speaking in Abuja while declaring open the 2025 hybrid refresher course for judges of superior courts, Kekere-Ekun highlighted the far-reaching consequences of these issues on public trust in the judicial system. The CJN stressed that these challenges not only weaken the judiciary’s authority but also erode public confidence, creating a dangerous disconnect between the courts and the society they serve. She called for decisive action to restore faith in the system.
When elections are judicialised in Nigeria, national courts overwhelmingly legitimise incumbent electoral victories. When opposition candidates lose in high-stakes presidential and gubernatorial elections, they seldom concede defeat without legal challenges. Claims of electoral irregularities, fraud, incompetence of electoral bodies, violence, and an unequal playing field, among other factors, transform these cases into highly contested mega-political disputes when they are judicialised.
The outcome of the Supreme Court judgement on the Edo 2024 election has further eroded the Supreme Court judgement on Oyetola versus Adeleke, which held that the evidence required to prove that voting was allowed without accreditation or that there was improper accreditation is the Register of Voters, BVAS, and the Polling Unit result in Form EC8A, and that the evidence required to prove that there was overvoting is the record of accredited voters in the BVAS and the Polling Unit result in Form EC8A. The court noted that the record in the BVAS machine for each polling unit is the direct and primary record of the number of voters accredited in that polling unit on the election day. Since Oyetola didn’t use the stated evidence, the Supreme Court came to the inevitable conclusion that “in light of the foregoing, I hold that the INEC database or National Electronic Register of Election Results is not relevant evidence in the determination of whether there was non-accreditation or overvoting or not in an election in a polling unit and cannot be relied on to prove overvoting.” Consequently, the apex court held that “on the whole, the appeal fails as it lacks merit.” The Supreme Court judgement on Oyetola versus Adeleke largely did not affect the collation of results of the Edo 2024 governorship election when the matter came up in the Supreme Court.
Rather than creating new political equilibria, judicialisation in national courts often results in the hegemonic preservation of incumbents. Though opposition politicians and political parties know this, they nonetheless resort to national courts in Nigeria, in part, because they see the courts as being at least one step removed from a national context overwhelmingly controlled by incumbent political parties and politicians.
Even though national court cases do not challenge or undermine incumbency, opposition politicians and political parties nevertheless bring these cases. This is because for opposition politicians and political parties, the utility of these courts lies in the indirect benefits that these cases give them. These benefits include giving them the opportunity to air their grievances, to galvanise their supporters, and to expose electoral malpractices in a forum that incumbents do not control.
The Electoral Act 2022 introduced some novel inventions. Principal amongst them is the electronic transfer of election results from the polling units in real time on election day to the INEC database or backendserver or National Electronic Register of Election Results, and the uploading of the scanned hard-copies of the polling units results of form EC8A to the INEC Results Viewing (IREV) Portal for the viewing pleasure of all Nigerians on election day and the use of the electronic device called the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the accreditation of voters and effecting the transfer of the number of accredited voters and results to the designated INEC-approved electronic sites stated above.
These electronic devices were applied during the Edo 2024 gubernatorial election on September 21, 2024. The election trumped up some pertinent issues regarding the electronic innovations that require a critical appraisal to reveal the clear intentions of the lawmakers in making those laws, as interpreted by the Judiciary.
The Supreme Court did not pass judgement on the Edo 2024 governorship election to strengthen the 2022 Electoral Act, but passed judgement to destroy it.
Inwalomhe Donald writes via inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com.
