By Festus Omooba in Abuja
Retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, on Monday, canvassed that the burden of proof in election petitions should rest on the election umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He called on the National Assembly to effect amendment to the Electoral Act to allow a shift of burden of proof from a petitioner to the electoral umpire.
He said the present situation where a petitioner was to prove irregularies in an election was an uphill task, almost impossible.
While noting that a petitioner is always saddled with difficult requirements and procedures to prove electoral malpractices in an election, he suggested that the”Electoral Act should be amended to shift the burden of proof to INEC to prove that it conducted a fair and reasonable election.”
Rhodes-Vivour, who retired from the bench of the Supreme Court on Monday, March 22, having attained the mandatory 70 years for retirement, also took a swipe at governors who, according to him, were truncating local government administration in their states.
“I intend to comment on some issues in the law and related matters,” he said.
The issues he brought to the fore are issues of corruption, insecurity, inheritance, precedence in law, among others.
On the issue of local government autonomy, Rhodes-Vivour noted that governors acted on their “whims and fancies unknown to our laws, clearly illegal”, when they dissolved elected local government councils and replaced them with caretaker committees.
According to him, it was the duty of governors to ensure that the system of local government continued unhindered.
“It amounts to executive recklessness for the governor to remove from office democratically elected chairmen and councillors under whatever guise. It is illegal and wrong,” he said.
Meanwhile, he decried the high level of corruption in the country and called for concerted efforts in bringing it to the barest minimum.
“Corruption exists in all the countries of the world. Nigeria is no exception. What should be done is to reduce it drastically thereby making our dear country an exception by building credible and transparent systems” Justice Rhodes-Vivour stated.
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