NADECO demands live broadcast at presidential tribunal

The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), US chapter, has demanded a live broadcast of the presidential election petition tribunal’s proceedings given the global interest, import, and importance of the election.

It also asked the United States government to withhold recognition of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, pending the resolution of all the cases before the tribunal.

The demands were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of its extraordinary summit in Washington DC entitled: “The Washington Declaration”, and signed by the group’s Executive Director, Lloyd F. Ukwu.

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According to the communiqué, this is imperative in view of the widespread criticism and disputes that have trailed the February 25, presidential poll.

The group noted that the Supreme Court of Nigeria is the highest court and the final arbiter of the law of the land and that it would be a great disservice to the Nigerian people and efforts to deepen democracy if the US  should rush to embrace the election and its beneficiaries without allowing the apex court to validate the process.

It further criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged violation of the Electoral Act of 2022, by not transmitting the election results from the polling units to the servers in real-time.

The group however called on the Federal Government to immediately remove the present Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu and for security agencies to arrest, interrogate and prosecute him  and all the INEC officials found to have been complicit in the alleged fraud that subsequent disputes that have trailed the polls.

The communique read: “The Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Election Tribunals must expeditiously and transparently consider election challenges, and in the case of the Presidency, if no final determination is reached on the results of the February 2023 election before the scheduled May 29, 2023 inauguration, then the Constitution must be followed, which provides for the Senate President to be installed as the acting President for three months to chart a legal transition of power in Nigeria.

“The United States Government should withhold any recognition of an incoming Nigerian government until the Supreme Court has thoroughly and transparently examined the 2023 election process and ruled definitively on the results of the 2023 elections in the same manner as the U.S. Government did with the 2022 elections in Kenya; utiize all credible evidence to impose Magnitsky Act sanctions at the earliest possible time frame to punish all those found to have impeded or subverted the 2023 election process exercising all available sanctions on such individuals. NADECO calls on the US Congress to introduce a bipartisan Non-binding Bill in the US Congress urging the Biden Administration to withhold the recognition of the President-elect until the election matters in court have received a finality.

“That  discontent and rejection of electoral process by Nigerians at home and abroad, the Nigeria Supreme Court is urged to rely on the “political question doctrine” to restrain itself from the polarizing nature of its decision regarding the 2023 Presidential Elections, and order  INEC to conduct a fresh election which complies with the requirement of the Nigerian Constitution, the 2022 Electoral Act as amended, and INEC’s own guidelines. As part of its order , the Supreme Court may include provisions for the proper assistance to INEC, including from competent foreign agencies and the Nigerian Bar Association, so as to guarantee free and fair elections.”

NADECO urged the US government to utilize the Gen. Abacha loot currently in asset forfeiture proceedings in US District Court to compensate victims of election violence in Nigeria, and to disclose and release all available records pertaining to the APC presidential candidate which are now at issue in the election petitions, to the courts for adjudication.

It also tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to unconditionally release IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, El Zakzaky, Sunday Igboho and other political detainees.