Nigerian election body must produce evidence: courtMon May 14, 2007 1:07PM EDT
By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) - A court on Monday ordered Nigeria's electoral body to produce evidence supporting its declaration of Umaru Yar'Adua as president-elect after a poll labeled "not credible" by international observers.

Last month's elections for a new president, state governors and legislators were billed as the first fully democratic transition in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and top oil producer.

Instead they were condemned as a "charade" by domestic observers and they have generated fierce controversy -- although few mass protests beyond the first few hours after disputed results were announced.

Opposition parties had applied to the tribunal to force the electoral body to produce ballots and other material backing up its announcement of a landslide for the ruling People's Democratic Party as a first step to overturning the result.

"The first applicant is permitted to inspect polling materials including results and other electoral materials used for the April 21 presidential elections," said Justice Rabiu Mohammed, granting a request by opposition candidate and vice president Atiku Abubakar.

The materials will be used by opposition candidates to support petitions which must be filed by May 23.

MARGIN OF VICTORY

Analysts give little hope to opposition candidates seeking to overturn the presidential result, because evidence of rigging is hard to obtain and the declared margin of victory so wide.

But some candidates for state governorships, the National Assembly and state assemblies stand a good chance, they added.

European observers reported widespread fraud during the polls including ballot-stuffing, intimidation and falsification of results, and said the elections were "not credible".

Yar'Adua is due to be inaugurated on May 29, in what will be the first handover of power from one elected leader to another in a country scarred by three decades of military rule.

Calls for mass protests against the result, which saw Yar'Adua win with almost four times the votes of his nearest rival, have met with a muted response so far.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, an umbrella body of workers' unions, has said it would organize a two-day strike before the inauguration, but it has not set a date. The Nigerian Bar Association on Monday called on its members to boycott court duties on May 18.

(Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon)

Robot  Villager

# 1 A court on Monday ordered Nigeria's electoral body to produce evidence supporting its declaration...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 14.05.2007 18:57

Mobileink  JJC

# 2 Would my cup of coffee now taste good? Ikechi U Chukwunonye Posted by Mobileink| 14.05.2007 19:03

ikechiji  Villager

# 3 The evidence will show that: 1) INEC claims 35 million people voted when they had no more than 30 million ballots 2) 20 million ballots were thumb-printed(hoof) by goats (Ewu Iwu) with sticky fingers. 3) The results sheets were signed by goats (Ewu Iwu) with Ebola virus. In summary Your Honor, the greatest scientist of our generation who discovered a miraculous cure for the Ebola virus is actually a magician who can make ballots appear and disappear and numbers appear out of thin air. The election was truly a miracle. Odego Posted by ikechiji| 15.05.2007 05:17

ikechukwu  Villager

# 4 =ikechiji;175906>The evidence will show that: 1) INEC claims 35 million people voted when they had no more than 30 million ballots 2) 20 million ballots were thumb-printed(hoof) by goats (Ewu Iwu) with sticky fingers. 3) The results sheets were signed by goats (Ewu Iwu) with Ebola virus. In summary Your Honor, the greatest scientist of our generation who discovered a miraculous cure for the Ebola virus is actually a magician who can make ballots appear and disappear and numbers appear out of thin air. The election was truly a miracle. Odego Ikechiji sir, I gree with you but the issue is whether the courts will be able to overturn the result fraudulent elections. Buhari in 2003 had so much evidence yet the supreme court dismissed his suit with a wave of hand. It was so shocking the way the supreme court acted in that case. We are living with the monster now. If Yaradua is sworn in all he needs to do is to drag the case to such a point that it would be impracticable annuling his elections no matter the evidence adduced. That is the game plan and I will be suprised if it does not work for him with the available resources at the presidency. Posted by ikechukwu| 15.05.2007 05:39

mulan  Villager

# 5 Our judiciary is still not completely independent of the executive and so I see little hope of them being able to overturn the last elections no matter the evidence provided by INEC. And don't be surprised if Iwu and co provide only 'sanitized' evidence. Posted by mulan| 15.05.2007 05:49

Zanderlex  Villager

# 6 Thank God my people, the patrotic journey has continued with alternative A. Peacefully or violently evil must not be allowed to triumph in Nigeria. It is the obligation of all nigerians to defend our democracy at any stage by telling the truth about its elections at all times. My advice to the electoral tribunal judges is this "collect the money if bribed by anybody (opposition or mainstream) and still do the right thing, afterall it is your money in the first place". Fellow nigerians we are in this together Long live Nigeria. Posted by Zanderlex| 15.05.2007 07:55

igwe  Villager

# 7 The burden of proof is on the petitioners and they've started quite well. Let's allow them to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and let's also give the judiciary the benefit of the doubt. Posted by igwe| 15.05.2007 15:32

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 8 This is an unprecedented ruling. Buhari was able to prove serious irregularities before the Court of Appeal in 2004 for the 2003 elections - leading to the cancellation of the Ogun Presidential polls but not the entire results - but could not do it for the entire country because it did not or could not get INEC to cooperate in terms of giving up the relevant materials. Even that Court of Appeal ruling was over-turned at the Supreme Court in 2005. The present ruling puts the burden of proof ON INEC - "show us the evidence for your results" - which appears entirely reasonable, is it not? So the burden of proof rests on INEC, even though the burden of sifting through a whole bunch of information rests on the petitioners. Money, time and resilience - I believe that those behind (in particular) the Action Congress has abundance of those. Again, the ruling is a big victory for Democracy. Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 16.05.2007 13:22

Afeni  Villager

# 9 These cases are not going anywhere. The only way to get change in Nigeria is through blood. Let the PDP know how much you, the people, love them. Show them the kind of warm welcome those that claim to get 70+ percent of the vote get from the Nigerian people. Make it so that returning the people mandate becomes a do or die affair. When peaceful change becomes impossible. . . Posted by Afeni| 16.05.2007 13:35