The Shift In The Burden Of Proof In Election Petitions : A Landmark Amendment Of The Electoral Act
By Admin
It’s heartwarming to note that the National Assembly has taken the bold and courageous step to amend the Electoral Act by reversing the burden of proof in election Petitions from the Petitioners to the INEC
This if Assented to by the President, will usher in a new dawn in electoral litigation and the greatest challenge ever for the INEC, if the amendment of the Electoral Act reverses the burden of proof in election Petitions and casts it on the INEC to prove that elections were conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act
The era of “Go To Court” once used as a taunt by the INEC to mock those they considered as looters of elections will be reversed and the table will turn or as the Hausas will say, “Reshe ta juya da
MUJIYA”
This amendment if it sails through ( as it should), will usher in a new era of Electoral justice long denied Petitioners by the unfair, absurd and unjust burden of proof cast on Petitioners to prove that elections which they did not conduct, were conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act
In my view, placing the burden of proof that elections were conducted in compliance with the law on the Body that organised, conducted and determined the results of the elections on the Body that administered the Electoral laws, is a demonstration of fairness , equity, Justice and good conscience
In the present dispensation, the Petitioners who were declared loosers of the elections by the INEC are unfairly burdened by the burden of proof cast on them by the Law, to substantiate or validate a process they do not own, a process they only participated in along with other candidates and a process supervised by a umpire
Who if not the umpire should bear the burden of proving that the elections were conducted in substantial irregularity with the Law, but the umpire charged with the implementation of the Law?
As far as Electoral litigation is concerned, this amendment is, in my opinion, the most important reform and the best instrument to guarantee Electoral justice in our jurisprudence of election Petitions.
I welcome the amendment whole heartedly and commend the National Assembly for it’s foresight and forthrightedness in bringing about this very important and far reaching amendment to the Electoral Act.
