The Politicisation of Election Litigation in Nigeria's Fourth
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THE POLITICISATION OF ELECTION LITIGATION IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC BY EBENEZER OLUWOLE ONI (216072032) SUPERVISOR PROF. KHONDLO MTSHALI A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. DECLARATION I, EBENEZER OLUWOLE ONI declare that: 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons‘ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons' writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a. Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them has been referenced b. Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the References sections. Signed: Date: 25 August 2020 ii DEDICATION To the Glory of the Almighty God; The memory of my late father, Hon. Joseph Bamidele Oni; And the support of my adorable wife, Elizabeth Oluwaseyi and children, Caleb Aduragbemi and Treasure Adurasetemi iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A doctoral thesis is a culmination of a long period of training in research and writing and achieving this may not have been possible without the assistance of the giver of wisdom and knowledge. I appreciate the Almighty God, my Saviour, Redeemer, the Alpha and the Omega for the grace He has bestowed upon me to complete my doctoral programme even in the face of daunting challenges. He has made me prevail over every academic obstacle from undergraduate to this level. Daddy, to you alone I give all praises, honour, glory and adoration. May your name be forever praised and glorified in my life. God equally used some people who facilitated this journey at different stages of the programme. I thank Dr Bukola Adesina of the University of Ibadan for inspiring me to study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal having also obtained her doctorate from the same university. I also appreciate the assistance of my colleagues Dr Tella Oluwaseun and Dr Shola Ogunnubi during my admission process. My supervisor, Prof. Khondlo Mtshali, deserves lots of commendations as a worthy and inspiring academic mentor. His patience, encouragement and abiding faith in me kept the dissertation going even when it seemed there was no headway. His incisive contributions provided me with the necessary insights that build up this thesis. I sincerely appreciate you Prof. My gratitude goes to the Postgraduate Administrator, School of Social Science, Mrs. Nancy Mudau for her kind assistance in sorting registration issues. I would like to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Hon. Joseph Laoye Shopade and Dr Chris Ojukwu. I indeed value your love and care. My debt of gratitude goes to my outstanding colleagues at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Muyiwa Faluyi and Dr Samuel Okunade for lending their supports at different stages in the course of my study. I want to place on record the financial assistance I received from the Social Science Research Council and the Carnegie Foundation having been named a recipient of the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Doctoral Proposal Development and Research Fellowship in Peace, Security and Development in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The funds proved timely and useful in completing my doctoral studies. I appreciate the cooperation and contributions of the people I interviewed in the course of my fieldwork both in knowledge and material support. Mr. Bayo Alabi of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) Ibadan, Nigeria deserves commendation for his editorial assistance. iv I appreciate the support, love and care of my adorable wife, Elizabeth Oluwaseyi, and children, Caleb Aduragbemi and Treasure Adurasetemi. God blesses me with these rare gifts because their prayers and ceaseless words of encouragement provided the impetus and strength to forge ahead despite many challenges. They kept the home front in my many absences. May God bless and keep you all for me. To many others who have contributed to the success of my doctoral studies that I could not mention here, I am very grateful. v LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Research Questions Matrix 69 Table 4.1: The Federal Election Results of 1959 in Nigeria 74 Table 4.2: Notable Election Petition Cases and Verdicts in Nigeria‘s Second Republic 88 Table 4.3: 2013 Kenyan Presidential Election Results 96 Table 4.4: 2017 Presidential Election Results in Kenya 99 Table 5.1: Forms of Electoral Malpractices in the 2007 General Elections in Nigeria 116 Table 5.2: A Description of Election Petitions filed after General Elections in Nigeria‘s Fourth Republic 128 vi ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ABN: Association for a Better Nigeria AC: Action Congress CAN: Action Congress of Nigeria AD: Alliance for Democracy AG: Action Group ANPP: All Nigerian Peoples Party APC: All Progressives Congress APGA: All Progressives Grand Alliance CDC: Constitution Drafting Committee CDCC: Constitutional Debate Coordinating Committee CPC: Congress for Progressive Change DDC: Direct Data Capture EFCC: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EMB: Election Management body EU: European Union EUEOM: European Union Election Observation Mission FEDECO: Federal Electoral Commission FGN: Federal Government of Nigeria GNPP: Great Nigeria People‘s Party ICJ: International Commission of Jurist IEBC: Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IFES: International Federation of Electoral Studies INEC: Independent National Electoral Commission IRI: International Republican Institute LP: Labour Party NBA: Nigerian Bar Association NCNC: National Council of Nigerian Citizens NEC: National Electoral Commission NEPU: Northern Elements Progressive Union vii NNDP: Nigerian National Democratic Party NPC: Northern People‘s Congress NPN: National Party of Nigeria NPP: Nigeria‘s People‘s Party NRC: National Republican Convention PDP: People‘s Democratic Party PNU: Party of National Unity PRP: Peoples‘ Redemption Party SAN: Senior Advocate of Nigeria SDP: Social Democratic Party SSS State Security Services TMG: Transition Monitoring Group UMBC: United Middle Belt Congress UNDP: United Nations Development Programme UPGA: United Progressive Grand Alliance UPN: Unity Party of Nigeria UPP: United People‘s Party viii APPENDICES Appendix I: Informed Consent Form 247 Appendix II: Research Instrument/Interview Schedule 250 Appendix III: Ethical Clearance Certificate 252 Appendix IV: Relevant Electoral Laws in the 2002 Electoral Act 253 ix ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, the third wave of democratisation has permeated the polity of almost all the African states as authoritarian regimes are replaced with democratic governments through the ballot process. Therefore, in line with the prevailing realities across Africa as well as in other formerly autocratic and closed systems in Asia and Latin America, participatory government was re-introduced in Nigeria in 1999. The use of regular and periodic election as a means of regime change became apparent. However, the conduct of general elections in Nigeria since 1999 has been marred with myriad of controversies thus triggering electoral disputes. This shifts the burden of ensuring free and fair elections and by extension sustaining democracy on the judiciary. This duty, the judiciary performs in the manner it handles and adjudicates over disputes arising from electoral contests. Recent developments in Nigeria have shown that electoral fraud has transcended the casting of votes and has permeated the judicial arm of government. The judiciary is not immune from manipulations by political elite in order to secure electoral victory through the courts when electoral contests shift from the polling booths to the ‗temple of justice‘. It is therefore in the light of this development that this study examines the politicisation of election litigation in Nigeria‘s Fourth Republic using the 2007 general elections and the ensuing gubernatorial election litigation cases in Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states of Nigeria as case studies. The study fills the gap in litereature which focuses research attention on electoral fraud around issues relating to voting. The theoretical framework for this study was eclectic combining three theories namely elite, state fragility and separation of power theories. For the purpose of this study, qualitative research methodology using case-study design was adopted. The 2007 general election was selected for study using Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states as case studies using the non-probabilistic sampling technique. Purposive sampling method was employed in the selection of research sites and participants. Instrument for data collection was through the use of In-depth Interview (IDI) complemented by data from documented sources. Data from interviews conducted were transcribed and interpreted using thematic content analysis. Data from both primary and secondary sources were systematically, objectively and descriptively analyzed making valid