The Chairman of the Lagos local government election tribunal Justice Onigbanjo on Tuesday granted the request of the Youth Party to inspect the election materials of Ward A, Lekki, in Eti-Osa local government.

The Youth Party had, on August 17, 2021, filed an election petition at the tribunal to dispute the results of the Ward A councillorship election in Lekki. The petition was filed by the party’s counsel, Mr. Adeyemi Candide-Johnson (SAN), who leads a team of lawyers seeking to cancel the exercise they have described as a ‘highly discredited election.’.

The party has said it would immediately commence the inspection of the boxes and has hired a team of forensic experts to aid the process.

On 17th August 2021, our Party and Mrs. Tari Taylaur, it’s Councillorship Candidate for Ward A, Eti Osa Local Government in the local government election of 24th July, 2021, filed an election petition at the Lagos State Local Government Election Tribunal to dispute the result declared in the election by LASIEC.

The petition was filed by our counsel, Adeyemi Candide-Johnson, SAN, who is leading a team of lawyers to present our case for the cancellation of the discredited election.

You will be aware of multiple widely publicized reports of election malpractices, massive irregularities and substantial non-compliance with extant electoral law. Some of the examples are the following:

1. Out of the 16 Polling Units earmarked for the election, electoral officers and materials either did not turn up at all or showed up to polling units only very late and after most voters had left.
2. About 6 polling units were relocated to or around the royal palace in Ikate, and made inaccessible to intending voters.
3. There was massive intimidation where voters were asked to confirm that they would vote for the ruling Party before they were allowed to vote in 3 polling units in Igbokusu.
4. Multiple thumb printing by of votes was carried out publicly by agents of the ruling Party.

In summary, there was massive suppression of votes, intimidation, violence and substantial non compliance with the electoral laws.

All these have contributed to massive voters apathy due to lack of confidence in the electoral system as the average turn out at the election was 2.5% of the registered voters. This is putting democracy in peril.

Consequently, we have resolved to pursue this legal battle to the fullest extent of the law to retrieve the stolen mandate of the people and to restore confidence in the electoral process.

It is our expectation that the judges of the electoral tribunals will carry out their function diligently and faithfully to correct the charade of an election which LASIEC conducted in Ward A, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State, on Saturday 24th July, 2021. The judiciary is the last hope of the common man.

See Full Election Tribunal Document HERE https://bit.ly/3ATuHN9

We object to the overreaching and unconscionable efforts of the National Assembly to whittle down the powers of INEC, particularly its constitutionally conferred rights to determine the process of elections in Nigeria.

It will suffice to state that the National Assembly was reported to have passed an amendment to the Electoral Act, particularly the section that deals with the electronic transmission of election results, limiting the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), which is constitutionally employed to conduct elections in the country.

With the amendment, INEC’s intent to transmit election results electronically will now depend on the express permission of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly itself.

The controversial provision reads “voting at an election under this Bill shall be by procedures determined by the commission, which may include electronic voting, provided that the commission shall not transmit results of the election by electronic means.”

This development attracted severe criticism from many Nigerians who accused the National Assembly of subverting the proposed amendment and trying to perpetuate rigging in future elections. 

The group further called on the NCC, especially the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone companies (Telcos), and other stakeholders to ensure access to IT services is provided, especially in rural, unserved, and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 general elections. 

We find it very strange for the Senate to push the responsibility of electronic transmission of results to the NCC, despite what the constitution says about the powers of the INEC to determine the electoral process including the pattern of voting and mode of transmission of results. 

For the avoidance of doubt, Section 78 of the constitution says

“The Registration of voters and the conduct of elections shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission”

The third schedule, part 1, F, Section 15 of the document further says,

“INEC has the power to organize, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor of a state, and to the membership of the senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the Federation.”

We believe the electronic transmission of election results will help to check rigging at polling units and collation centers. Transferring election results electronically is also a universal norm in this century. We have seen smaller and poorer countries conduct the electronic transmission of results, even with their limited infrastructure Nigeria should not be an exception.

We find it very difficult to believe that our lawmakers would oppose the electronic transmission of results when daily Nigerians are using electronic transfer of money and in the admission of students to various higher institutions in the country.

Electronic transmission is as simple as sending a text message, WhatsApp message, or using any other platform recommended by INEC and we feel the National Assembly should have a rethink on the matter before presenting the bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.

The constitution provides that INEC operations shall not be subject to the direction of anybody or authority.

This, therefore, renders the action of the NASS nugatory. By inviting the NCC and shunning INEC, it appeared the House was acting out a devious and utterly treacherous script intended to add to the current sorry state of the electoral process. 

Even if the telecommunications network is weak or non-existent in a particular unit, moving further away from such unit until you access a place for a better network will still not vitiate the authenticity of election results already tallied at the polling units. The electronic copy only complements the physical copy, which must have been signed by all agents relevant to an election.

As a backup copy, the electronic copy of an election result helps to strengthen the electoral process and reduce incidents of ballot-snatching and the primitive manipulation of the physical copy.

We believe that ordinarily, there should not be any controversy on this subject as INEC, which is the only body mandated by the constitution to organize, undertake and supervise all elections, has categorically stated that it can achieve the electronic transmission of results. We posit that INEC does not need a Bill of the National Assembly to transmit results of elections electronically. And, we would expect it to challenge the powers of the National Assembly to subject its independence to the NASS’ whims and caprices.

Any unsuspecting member of the public would mistake the lowering of the age of eligibility to contest for public office through the passing of the “Not Too Young Bill” as an act or sign of encouragement or inclusion in political participation of the Youth by the Federal Government through its agency, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Nothing could be further from the truth. INEC is desperately, shamelessly and vehemently against the participation of the youth in politics. It is a fact: INEC’s continuous victimization of the Youth Party; the dodgy clause 78(7) in the Electoral Bill where it seeks to restrict the democratic space to two big parties; and its refusal to conduct a year round continuous voters registration since 2017 until 28^th June, 2021, which would have made citizens who turned 18 years of age after the last registration process (April, 2017) eligible to vote and voted for, speaks volume to the same end. INEC is morphing into an enemy of democracy. Currently, all new registered voters who are largely youth (65% plus) have been banned from voting in the impending the Local Government Polls in Lagos and Ogun States by administrative fiat. And, they have already been disenfranchised from all the local government elections conducted since the last registration.

Youth Party

Youth Party commenced the process of registration in December 2016, and INEC was against us from the onset. We had to get a Court Judgment to be considered for registration at all. Essentially, we had to get a judgment to get an application form. A process that should not take 3 months according to the law took more than 2 years with dire consequences. Eventually, our Party was not registered until 14^th August, 2018, just a few days before the commencement of primaries for the 2019 general elections. This was despite a judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on 20^th October 2017 directing INEC to register the Party. This late registration of our Party affected our ability to perform at the 2019 general elections. Meanwhile, INEC was busy sponsoring the amendment of the Constitution in a manner that would empower it to deregister the Party immediately after the 2019 election. INEC sponsored the amendment of Section 225A of the Constitution, whilst delaying our registration. The said Section 225A was amended to require performance of parties at election, without giving any period to allow the parties to grow organically.  Nonetheless, we fielded 11 (Eleven) candidates for House of Representatives and States Houses of Assembly all over the country in those elections. 

Immediately after the 2019 election, INEC threatened to deregister our Party.

Consequently, we commenced a court action against INEC in January 2020, at the Federal High Court, Abuja. All other political parties that sued INEC were left off the deregistration list and the Commission cited pending litigation but not Youth Party.

INEC resorted to self-help unbecoming of an unbiased electoral umpire.

Subsequently, judgment was delivered in our favour on 12^th October, 2020. 

The dictum of Honourable Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court in his judgment, in Youth Party v. INEC, is profound, where he held that:

the Defendant is not above the law. No person or parties to an action is allowed to resort to self help when an action is pending in Court. The claim that the Defendant has power pursuant to S.225A(b) & (c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to de-register a political party does not justify the action of the Defendant while this action is pending. The Defendant must understand that the constitution is not an author of confusion. I condemn the action of the Defendant as a wrong exercise of might. Therefore, the deregistration of the Plaintiff during the pendency of this action by the Defendant is illegal, null and void, and liable to be set aside. Consequently, I hereby make an order setting aside the de-registration of the Plaintiff”.

Subsequently, INEC appealed against the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja and the Court of Appeal held, through a unanimous Judgment delivered by Hon. Justice T.Y. Hassan,J.C.A., that our purported deregistration was illegal, null and void, holding that:

“This Court will not hesitate to sustain the decision of the Lower Court which pulled down and dismantled the edifice that the Appellant built on self help when it deregistered the Respondent not only during the pendency of the Suit but when it had been served with and had reacted to the motion for interlocutory injunction seeking to restrain the Appellant from the very act it helped itself to actualize extra judicially.  To say the least, we find the Appellant action very reprehensible, the Lower Court as any court of law would have done, acted correctly by setting aside the deregistration of the Respondent. We have no reason to interfere with the order made by the Lower Court and same be sustained”

Despite the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court that was upheld on appeal, which has neither been set aside nor stayed, INEC has refused to list our Party on its website as a registered Party or allowed us to participate in any election in the Country.  INEC is in continuous flagrant breach of the universally and constitutionally protected human rights of our members to freedom of association.

We have delivered several letters to INEC to allow our Party and its members participate in a number of bye-elections and local government elections, to no avail. Specifically, we were illegally and unfairly excluded from the bye elections in Lagos, Abia, Zamfara and Bayelsa; and the LG polls in Ondo, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Ekiti and Oyo States. INEC’s disgust for the Youth Party extends to rejecting any letter from them. 

Currently, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) is about to conduct local government elections in Lagos States State and our Party wishes to field candidates and participate in the election. However, INEC has refused to confirm the status of our Party to LASIEC despite the judgments of Courts. Thus, Youth Party and its members are being denied the right to freely participate in the said upcoming local government elections in Lagos State. Most importantly, INEC’s actions are contemptuous and if allowed to continue, erodes public trust and belief in the Country’s electoral and judicial system as it now sits on appeal on Court’s judgements relating to Youth Party’s judgements. It chooses which judgement to obey like it just did with swiftness against Prof. Soludo in Anambra State. Fairness and justice are important for the progress of our Nation. 

Consequently, our Party, again, approached the Federal High Court in its bid to ensure participation in the forthcoming Lagos Council Election fixed for 24th July, 2021, and compel INEC and LASIEC’s to respect the rule of law, particularly obedience of judicial decisions. This Country belongs to all of us.

The Federal High Court, Lagos, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/625, before His Lordship, Honourable Justice Akintayo Aluko, granted an order of injunction in a case filed by the Youth Party on Monday, 12^th July, 2021. The Court ruled and granted our prayers after the application was argued eloquently by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, S.A.N., wherein he narrated the “travails of the Youth”, that:

‘INEC and LASIEC are restrained whether by themselves, their agents, privies, employees, officers or anyone whosoever acting for them and on their behalf from conducting the forthcoming Lagos State Local Government elections scheduled for 24th July, 2021 or any other elections whatsoever to the exclusion of the Applicant.

In essence, any election conducted to the exclusion of Youth Party would be illegal, null and void: an exercise in futility. 

But the shamelessness and desperation of INEC is unabated. INEC filed a notice of appeal and application for stay of execution at the Supreme Court on Thursday, 15^th July,2021, after it has refused to obey the judgment. Now, every lawyer knows that a notice of appeal is not an appeal. An appeal is only entered when the records of the lower court has been transmitted to the appellate Court. Also, an appeal does not amount to a stay of execution. Most importantly, there is nothing to execute in the judgment as it is declaratory in nature and an application for stay is manifestly inapplicable

It is noteworthy that until the judgment against INEC is set aside, the position of the law is that Youth Party remains a registered political party in Nigeria and it is entitled to all the rights and privileges of a registered political party in Nigeria. Most importantly, INEC’s position is in flagrant breach of our members’ fundamental right to freedom of association as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and as guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration. 

Disenfranchisement of the Youth through the Belated Continuous Voters Registration

Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) is an exercise meant for the registration of citizens who turned 18years of age after the last registration exercise; or those who for one reason or another could not register in the previous exercise. INEC released the modalities for running this exercise all year round through the local government offices in 2017 but none was done aside from the token exercise carried out in 2017 before the last election in 2019 (4 years ago).

Now, INEC opened up the registration process again on 28^th June, 2021, where people can register but THEY CANNOT VOTE. They are to register online and come in for the capturing of their photographs on 25^th July, 2021. Elections are happening in Lagos and Ogun States and it is only people registered before the 2019 elections that can vote. Lagos local government council elections are fixed for 24^th July, 2021-a day before your photograph can be mischievously captured. 

These new registered voters are mostly youth. A glance at the statistics of registered and registering voters reveals that the youth consists  of more than 65% of the total voters. The newly registered voters have been precluded by devious administrative fiat. INEC ensured that no CVR took place before now and ensures that the voters’ register to be used is the pre-2019 registers. 

Section 78 (7) of the Electoral Bill is the Death of Any Youth Focused Party  

The proposed provision which INEC is desperate to push through to kill the organic growth of political parties in Nigeria and subject everyone to the whims and caprices of APC and PDP requires a new party to win the presidency, governorship, national or State House of Assembly seat to continue existing. A party would not need to crawl before it walks? How would any newly registered party fulfil this requirement? How? They should just state that they are banning registration of new parties and deleting the constitutional provision for freedom of association instead of registering parties with the sole aim of deregistering them afterwards in bad faith.

Also, the desperation extends to breaching the extant constitutional provision on de-registration of Parties.

It will suffice to state that Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Fourth Amendment), gives INEC the powers to deregister a political party for-

• Breach of any of the requirement for registration;
• Failure to win at least twenty-five percent of votes cast in-
• One state of the Federation in a presidential election;
• One local government of the state in a governorship election.

(c) Failure to win at least-

• One ward in the Chairmanship election;
• One seat in the National or State House of Assembly election; or (iii) One seat in the Councillorship election.

The conflict between the constitutional provision above and the said Section 78 (7a) of the Bill is easily resolved in favour of the Constitution. But INEC based on its antecedents would deploy the illegal law and ask people to go to Court, which they have no respect for anyways.  Furthermore, limiting required winning to the Presidency, Governorship, National or State House of Assembly seat is bad policy as it will constitute a further restriction of the democratic space.

Also, deregistration of political parties which fail to meet constitutional requirements should be done through the Court. Not through an agency run by people appointed by their opponents. Deregistration is like taking life of a political association and it should not be done casually. Only a court can withdraw a banking license, not the Central Bank of Nigeria. We cannot complain that most political parties are an assembly of strange bed fellows, and at the same time discourage the organic growth and development of serious political parties that are committed to growing over a reasonable period of time. What is the issue with allowing political parties at least 5 years to win a seat?  Why is INEC reducing the functions and performance of Parties to ONLY winning elections? And we complain about desperate politicians when their regulator is creating the atmosphere. The functions of  political Parties include developing policies and ideas to move the country forward and acting as an effective opposition to the government of the day. Government is only as good as its opposition. 

Right to freedom of association is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right pursuant to Section 40 of the Constitution. It should not be taken away without fair hearing as required by Section 36 of the Constitution. Failure to adhere to the spirit and letters of the aforesaid constitutionally-guaranteed rights would not only continue to restrict the democratic space but lead to avoidable and needless litigations. People with different political ideologies are being systemically forced to merge or die as they are not allowed to grown on their own, if INEC is allowed to have its way. For  

Whilst the number of political parties in Nigeria, which stood at 91(Ninety-One) at the last election, generated a lot of concern,  it is noteworthy that more advanced electoral systems have similar  numbers, for instance South Africa has 93, Brazil 33, USA 32, Ghana 24 and even the UK has 18 political Parties. The number of Parties is not a problem but the lack of proper and unbiased oversight. For example, many of the parties registered by INEC did not have verifiable offices as required by law and their officers were place holders. Similarly, many of the parties don’t file their financial records as required by law. We would not have had many unworthy parties, if INEC was carrying out its oversight role diligently. Waging war against the Youth is a bad omen for the Country and INEC should be called to order. 

In summary, INEC should be advised to allow the youth to participate in the political space in the interest of the Country: obey court orders by allowing Youth Party to participate; allow the youth to vote after registration; and, withdraw Section 78(7) of the Electoral Bill. The resort to tokenism of lowering the age of eligibility or asking for quotas in the bigger parties can only help, if there is a level playing field. INEC should also be advised to play its statutory impartial role as electoral umpire instead descending into the arena of political contests. On our part, we are committed to democratic processes and the respect for the rule of law. Most importantly, we believe in the expansion of the democratic space, where plural voices are encouraged. Sadly, the converse is the case today in Nigeria.

The Youth Party would like to thank our members and supporters for their commitment and support throughout the campaign leading up to the Lagos Local Government Elections that held yesterday, Saturday July 24, 2021.

Our Campaign was crowd funded and blessed with spirited supporters, even in the face of exclusion by LASIEC and INEC. Still, our supporters believe in the expansion of our democratic space and the possibility of a better Nigeria, and that conviction shone brightly.

Although there was no level paying field, our party won comfortably in several polling units. We were excluded from all processes leading to the Election. Supporters that registered to vote after 2018 were excluded from election by administrative fiat. Our votes were suppressed by the late arrival of voting materials, leading many of our voters to leave the polling units without having cast their votes. Materials arrived at 3:15pm for polls that closed at 3pm in some cases. Votes were cast in non-designated locations and inaccessible places including a Royal Palace. In many places, our voters were stopped from voting if they didn’t vote for the ruling Party. Despite all of these challenges, we presented capable and inspiring candidates, who campaigned vigorously and made their presence felt at the voting booth.

There are significant issues with Nigeria’s voting processes, especially for Local Government Elections and many of them were reflected in yesterday’s election. The Youth Party will continue to fight vigorously, at the polling booth and in courts of law, to enforce the rights of Nigerians to participate in the democratic space.

We are proud of our candidates, the campaigns they ran and our efforts at the elections, and grateful for the support of all of you who are passionate about building a better Nigeria and the expansion of the democratic space.

We await the final results of the election, knowing that this is not a sprint but a marathon. And we invite all those who share our vision to join us to shape a great and worthy future for Nigeria

Thank you all for your support.

God bless you and God bless Nigeria.

Tomiwa Aladekomo
National Chair

The Youth Party of Nigeria has lamented  over some shortcomings in the ongoing local government election in Lagos State.

In a statement, the party said the exercise recorded some logistics in certain areas.

“It is extremely disturbing to us that at noon, with only three hours left to vote, election materials have still not reached several polling units across the State (at least 20 that we’ve identified at this time), especially in key areas of Eti-Osa, Lekki.”

“Additionally there have been substantive and ill-intentioned efforts to confuse voters, with voting booths being moved in several places and talk of votes being ascribed to locations other wards.

“Voters are not being properly informed of their rights and agents are deliberately misleading candidates to disenfranchise them.

“Conversely, we are also seeing extensive cases of LASIEC officials allowing people to vote without proper accreditation, making it possible for voters to vote in multiple polling booths.

Suppression of the people’s right to vote is never acceptable and LASIEC is doing a grave disservice to the people to Lagos and Nigeria today. It must and will not stand.”

The Chairman of Youth Party, Tomiwa Aladekomo, has expressed concerns over some inadequacies in the conduct of some Lagos State Electoral Independent Commission, LASEIC officials at the on going local government elections.

Aladekomo stated that “it is extremely disturbing to us that at noon, with only three hours left to vote, election materials have still not reached several polling units across the State (at least 20 that we’ve identified at this time), especially in key areas of Eti-Osa, Lekki.

“Additionally there have been substantive and ill-intentioned efforts to confuse voters, with voting booths being moved in several places and talk of votes being ascribed to locations other wards.”

He also added that “Voters are not being properly informed of their rights and agents are deliberately misleading candidates to disenfranchise them.

“Conversely, we are also seeing extensive cases of LASIEC officials allowing people to vote without proper accreditation, making it possible for voters to vote in multiple polling booths.

“Suppression of the people’s right to vote is never acceptable and LASIEC is doing a grave disservice to the people to Lagos and Nigeria today. It must and will not stand,” he said.

The Youth Party (YP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of disenfranchising its members from contesting in the Lagos State Local Government Area chairmanship and councillorship elections scheduled for July 24, 2021.

It described the situation as a continuous victimisation of the party.

In a statement issued and signed by the Trustee of the party, Francis Akinlotan, yesterday the party accused INEC of refusing to list the party on its official website as a registered political party, and also refusing to confirm the party’s status to the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), despite several court judgments.

Akinlotan said the party commenced the process of registration in December 2016, “and INEC was against us from the outset. We had to get a court judgment to be considered for registration at all cost.

“Essentially, we had to get a judgment to get an application form. A process that should not take three months according to the law, took more than two years with dire consequences.”

He said the party was eventually registered on August 14, 2018, just a few days before the commencement of primaries for the 2019 general election, despite a judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on October 20, 2017, directing INEC to register the party.

According to the statement, “The late registration of the party affected its ability to perform at the 2019 general election.

“Meanwhile, INEC was busy sponsoring the amendment of the constitution in a manner that would empower it to deregister the party immediately after the 2019 elections.

“INEC sponsored the amendment of Section 225a of the constitution, while delaying our registration. The said Section 225a was amended to require performance of parties at election, without giving any period to allow the parties to grow organically.

“Nonetheless, we fielded 11 candidates for House of Representatives and state Houses of Assembly all over the country in those elections. Immediately after the 2019 elections, INEC threatened to deregister our party.

“Consequently, we commenced a court action against INEC in January 2020 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. All other political parties that sued INEC were left off the deregistration list, as the commission cited pending litigation, but not with the Youth Party.”

Akinlotan accused INEC of continuously breaching the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association of members of the party.

“Currently, the LASIEC is about to conduct local government elections in the state and our party wishes to field candidates and participate in the election.

“However, INEC has refused to confirm the status of our party to LASIEC despite the judgments of courts. Thus, the Youth Party and its members are being denied the right to freely participate in the upcoming local government elections,” he stated.

The Youth Party has said there was no level playing field in the just concluded local government election in Lagos State.

The president of the party, Tomiwa Aladekomo, said this on Sunday while addressing journalists on the irregularities they observed in Saturday’s election in the state.

Mr Aladekomo said some of the supporters of the party were disenfranchised because polling units were moved to intimidating places such as the Palace of Oba Elegushi at Lekki-Ikate.

Thousands of Lagosians on Saturday voted representatives for councillorship and local government chairmanship positions across all the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs in the state.

The election, which was marred by low turnout of voters, had the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) win several seats.

Although election results for some LGAs are yet to be announced, APC won in Badagry, Epe, Shomolu, Bariga, Kosofe, Surulere and other areas.

‘Suppression of Votes’

The Youth Party leadership said votes in the Saturday election were suppressed due to late arrival of materials and other irregularities.

“We were excluded from all processes leading to the election. Supporters that registered to vote after 2018 were excluded from election by administrative fiat.

“Our votes were suppressed by the late arrival of voting materials, leading many of our voters to leave the polling units without having cast their votes. Materials arrived at 3:15pm for polls that closed at 3pm in some cases,” Mr Aladekomo said.

He added that votes were cast in non-designated locations and inaccessible places including a Royal Palace.

“For emphasis, the election in Lekki-Ikate was deeply flawed. Our supporters were unable to access the polling booth because 6 polling units in Ikate were moved to the Palace of Oba Elegushi. Specifically, polling unit 03 to 08 were moved to the palace thereby disenfranchising our supporters,” the party leader said.

Mr Aladekomo said despite that there was no level playing field, their party won comfortably in eight polling units “by a landslide.”

He, however, did not provide details of the polling units where his party won.

“Despite all of these challenges, we presented capable and inspiring candidates, who campaigned vigorously and made their presence felt at the voting booth.

“We are proud of our candidates, the campaigns they ran and our efforts at the elections, and grateful for the support of all of you who are passionate about building a better Nigeria and the expansion of the democratic space,” he said.

Alleged rigging

The party also accused adhoc staff of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) of colluding with party agents and political associates to rig the election.

Ayo Adio, a member of the party, said the “shameless rigging” by APC was captured in some polling units, with videos and pictures circulated.

He made reference to the video of a woman caught voting on several ballot papers at one of the polling units in Lagos.

“There are significant issues with Nigeria’s voting processes, especially for Local Government Elections and many of them were reflected in yesterday’s election.

“In the three polling units at Igbokusu, our agents were harassed, threatened and chased away from their polling stations where ballots were stuffed and people voted multiple times with the collusion of LASIEC officials and the police.

“The kind of rigging and violence deployed in these polling units should embarrass the commission especially with the shameful videos of the rigging currently circulating the media space,” the party said.

Mr Aladekomo said the worst scenario recorded in the Saturday election was moving collation centres without notice to a different location where members of the party were harassed and intimidated.

“The Youth Party will continue to fight vigorously, at the polling booth and in courts of law, to enforce the rights of Nigerians to participate in the democratic space,” the party leader said.

He added that they have confidence in the leadership of LASIEC, headed by a retired Chief Judge of Lagos State, Ayotunde Phillips, and the party is sure the irregularities will be looked into.

The party urged the commission to cancel election results of areas where electoral malpractices were recorded.

“There is no way Justice Philips will tolerate the conduct of many of her staff who did several things to embarrass the Commission. We therefore call on her to cancel the elections in Igbokusu and Ikate where the elections were massively and shamelessly rigged.

“Another election should be conducted in Lekki Phase as well to redeem the credibility of the poll, We call for fresh elections in the affected polling units and urge the Commission to do everything possible to ensure that the conduct is free and fair,” Mr Aladekomo said.

The Youth Party has won a resounding victory today in our bid to ensure participation in the forthcoming Lagos Council Election fixed for 24th July 2021 and our perennial battle to ensure that INEC and LASIEC respect the rule of law, particularly obedience to judicial decisions.

The Federal High Court, Lagos, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/625, before His Lordship, Honourable Justice Akintayo Aluko, granted the order of injunction in a case filed by the Youth Party and argued eloquently by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, S.A.N., wherein he narrated the “travails of the Youth.”

The Court ruled and granted our prayers that:
‘INEC and LASIEC are restrained whether by themselves, their agents, privies, employees, officers, or anyone whosoever acting for them and on their behalf from conducting the forthcoming Lagos State Local Government elections scheduled for 24th July 2021 or any other elections whatsoever to the exclusion of the Applicant pending the determination of the Interlocutory Application, which has now been adjourned to Monday 19th July 2020.’
In essence, any election conducted with the exclusion of the Youth Party would be illegal, null, and void: an exercise in futility.

The Court’s decision is in line with the earlier judgment of the Federal High Court Abuja delivered by Honourable Justice I.E. Ekwo that declared the purported de-registration of the Party illegal, null, and void. Also, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, affirmed the decision of the lower Court and “found the action of INEC very reprehensive.”
The judgment at the lower Court is consequent to INEC’s persistent disregard for the rule of law and judicial decisions in failing to register the Party within the time stipulated in the law and preventing it from participating in elections illegally. The Electoral umpire failed to register the Party after it got a judgment against it in FHC/ABJ/CS/221/2017 between Chukwudi Adiukwu & Ors V. INEC delivered on 18th October 2017 until 14th August 2018, less than five days to the commencement of Party primaries in 2018. INEC further resorted to illegal self-help by illegally de-registering Youth Party while both of them were before the Federal High Court over the issue. INEC has taken the position of an immoral and biased electoral umpire.

Furthermore, INEC is currently refusing to list the Party on its website as a registered Party or allow it to participate in any election even in the face of an Appeal Court judgment, which had not been set aside or stayed.
Honourable Justice I.E. Ekwo in his judgment had held that:
“The Defendant is not above the law. No person or parties to an action is allowed to resort to self-help when an action is pending in Court”. The claim that the Defendant has the power pursuant to S. 225A (b) & (c) of the 1999 Constitution(as amended) to de-register a political party does not justify the action of the Defendant while this action is pending. The Defendant must understand that the constitution is not an author of confusion. I condemn the action of the Defendant as a wrong exercise of might. Therefore, the de-registration of the Plaintiff during the pendency of this action by the Defendant is illegal, null and void, and liable to be set aside. Consequently, I hereby make an order setting aside the de-registration of the Plaintiff.”

The ruling of the Federal High Court has put paid to the shameless resort to self-help, orchestrated by the collaborative efforts of INEC and LASIEC to stop the Youth Party’s commitment to the expansion of the democratic space, political ascendancy, and its bid to prevent the rot in the political space.

Once again, we thank the Nigerian Judiciary for giving us hope that the rule of law is still sacrosanct and the judiciary is the hope of our democracy.