For the first time since our return to democracy in 1999, our Inauguration Day, May 29, 2023, is beclouded in a controversy that might have been avoided if the Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had not sparked off controversy around the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

Had INEC followed the Electoral Law and its own guidelines, the winner of the election would have been congratulated by the losers, because the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BIVAS, and electronic transmission of results from the polling units would have eliminated doubts.

It was Prof. Yakubu’s sidestepping of the advertised procedure that emboldened the likes of the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Hudu Ari, to commit his own impunity without apologies to anyone. Unfortunately, while Ari is being pursued all over the place, Prof. Yakubu whose mishandling of the presidential lection gave him the impetus remains untouched. He is even the one sanctioning Ari!

There is anxiety over the inauguration. Aggrieved candidates and political parties have lodged their petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT. Hearing on them is only starting this week, six weeks after the election. We have three weeks more to the inauguration. Kenya resolved its election dispute in its Supreme Court within a week before President William Ruto was sworn-in. Nobody is talking about the Kenya presidential election anymore except as a great example for democracy in Africa.

Buhari’s government must hand over on May 29, 2023. A new president must be inaugurated. That is what the law demands. The question is: won’t the presidential election petitions be reduced to mere academic exercises if a president is sworn-in while the tribunal is still at work?

Some have argued that the PEPT can still give justice to whom it is due. After all, many governors, like Peter Obi, Chibuike Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole and a host of others, successfully reclaimed their mandates at election petition tribunals. But we have never seen a similar example with presidential elections.

Once a president is sworn-in, he is immediately covered by immunity. Can he be removed without going through the impeachment route? Secondly, the powers of the state are in his hands. How realistic is it to expect him to sit idly by and get removed?

The best option is for the Judiciary to quickly consolidate and discharge the election petitions within the three weeks at its disposal. If Kenya could do it in one week, so can we! Are we the Giant of Africa for nothing?

Anything short of this will injure our democracy and civic culture beyond repair. We don’t need the bitterness, bottled-up anger and fights that could ensue from state usurpation of the people’s right to choose their leaders.

•PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Rehearsal , callisthenic flag bearers duringrehearsal ahead of Presidential Inauguration at Eagle Square Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan

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