Since the 2014 senatorial elections, the number of election dispute cases have continued to show an upward trend. Recalling the 2017 elections and the challenges which followed that virtually brought the country to the brink of conflict, it appears the 2023 electoral process is now deja-vu.
The most contentious issue at the time centered around the integrity of the Voters Registry (VR), which by all accounts had been severely compromised.
The Supreme Court determined that the VR was indeed compromised and accordingly mandated the Elections Commission to clean up the VR before the conduct of the runoff elections.
The Supreme Court’s mandate was conveniently ignored, and the Court sat and watched helplessly as its mandate was flouted by the NEC with impunity.