Election Petition Process
Petitions against the decision of a presidential election are filed at the Court of Appeal – which is the designated election petition tribunal for Presidential elections. The process for the election petition tribunal is contained in the First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022, however a broad overview of the steps are below:
Step 1 – Gathering Information
An election petition is a very detailed and fact-based process which requires the petitioner to not only state the grounds for the challenge, but to also provide evidence of this. In most cases, the petitioner does not have the evidence, and would need to get it from INEC, and so in the early stages before a petition is filed, you would see the potential challenger file a motion to get the evidence.
Once you have access to the information and you have been able to ascertain the facts to build your case, then you can move o to the next stage.
Step 2 – Filing the Petition
The Petition needs to be filed within 21 days of the election, after which the person seeking to challenge the petition will be out of time, and unable to proceed. After the petition is filed the respondent (both the winner of the election and the Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC) have 21 days to respond to the petition with their own position and their own side (with facts to back it up). If the response brings up any new facts, then the petitioner has 5 days to respond.
Step 3 – Pre-hearing session
After the documents are all served on the relevant parties, the petitioner is then meant to apply to the tribunal for the issuance of a pre-hearing notice. The pre-hearing is essentially that stage where all the preliminary issues are discussed, and things like witness lists, dates of the hearing etc are finalised. This stage is not meant to take more than 14 days.
Stage 4 – Hearing of the Petition
This is the main event, and this is where all the issues are litigated. The Tribunal will receive documentary evidence, but also take oral testimony. The petitioner(s) and the respondent(s) will all present their cases, and the tribunal will hand down judgment. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Tribunal shall determine whether a person whose election or return is complained of or any other person, and what person, was validly returned or elected, or whether the election was void, and shall certify the determination to the Resident Electoral Commissioner or INEC.
Stage 5 – Potential Outcomes
Broadly speaking there are 3 potential outcomes of an election petition. The first outcome is that the tribunal/court upholds the election, the second outcome is the election is nullified and a new election is ordered, and the final one is that the election decision is rejected and the person who won the election is removed and the petitioner (the person who filed the petition) is installed as the winner of the election
If the Court has determined that the election is invalid, then, and new election ordered, then this shall be held by the Commission not be later than three months from the date of the judgment.
Stage 6 – Appeal
If either of the parties is unsatisfied with the judgment of the tribunal, then they can appeal to the Supreme Court. This is the highest appellate body, and their decision on the appeal is final.
What Next?
So now that you have a general understanding of the election petition process in Nigeria, what do we expect you to do with it? Nothing particularly, as you as an individual who has not contested in an election cannot bring a petition – only the candidates and the political parties can bring a petition. So once again, all this information is just us doing our job – educating you about the law in Nigeria.
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