Dariye and the right to contest

The ambition of former Plateau State Governor, Senator Chief Joshua Dariye, who is currently serving 14 years jail term in Kuje prisons for corruption malpractices last week heighten fears about the appropriateness of certain sections of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

Dariye had in his prison cell reportedly procured nomination formsfrom All Progressives Congress (APC) to enable him contest the primary for nomination as candidate for the forthcoming 2019 general election into the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Several commentators have condemned this and raised the alarm over what they called a fast trend circumventing the rules to permit convicts to contest and win election from prisons.

While the public outrage over Dariye’s action is understandable in the light of the anti-corruption campaigns of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, not many have consulted the 1999 Constitution to be able to appreciate what it provided for certain people in the shoes of Dariye.

Section 66 (1) for instance, stated thus:” No person shall be qualified for election to the Senate or the House of Representatives if : (c) He is under a sentence of death imposed on him by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for an offence involving dishonesty or fraud ( by whatever called) or any other offence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court.

(d) within a period of less than ten years before the date of an election to a legislative house, he has been convicted and sentenced for an offence involving dishonesty or he has been found guilty of a contravention of the Code of Conduct.

But loophole lies on Section 66 (3) which allows a convict like Dariye who had lodged an “appeal” at the Court of Appeal to contest an election.

The section states that, “ For the purposes of subsection (2) of this section, an “appeal” includes any application for an injunction or an order of certiorari, mandamus, prohibition or habeas corpus, or any appeal from any such application.

We are of the opinion that this section makes mockery of our anti-corruption war. Therefore, it calls for an amendment because from our experience and prevalent delays in our justice delivery system , it means all convicts would contest election so long as they filed an appeal challenging their conviction and “hanged,” the case for years.