A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Professor Paul Ananaba, has on Thursday, suggested that in future elections in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should appear in Court as an Independent Party and no longer be a Respondent in cases before Election Petition Tribunals, arguing that, this would ease the burden and pressure on the Judiciary to address numerous election petitions,
Professor Ananaba spoke when he featured as a Guest on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’.
His words: “In our elections, INEC should no longer be a Respondent; INEC should be an Independent party.
“You call INEC. They bring all the processes, so that within seven days, each party will look at them and see whether there is anything to compare. We can finish our election petitions all the way to the Supreme Court within five to six weeks.
“I believe that we should move the onus of proof in electoral cases to INEC. That singular act will reduce election petitions by 50 percent.”
Speaking further, he said that the Respondent must bring an INEC Personnel and swear an affidavit or a witness statement within 21 days, if the Respondent would want INEC to appear and provide testimony in any phase of the electoral Tribunal process.
He stated: “[What this means is] INEC conducts the election, and after the election, it is the man who lost that will now go to the Tribunal, and from the decisions you are seeing now, everything he would do must be within 21 days in Nigeria.”
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