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Professor
Attahiru Jega ,the chairman of
Independent National Electoral
Commission is facing unexpected problems
which are not his making.He had to
recently meet with stakeholders to
address the issue of extension of time
for elections from January to April ,and
it seems the national Assembly will
oblige him.
Even as that problem has not been fully
addressed yet,INEC is now facing new
hurdles in the form of legal threats
that
may scuttle plans
being
made for contractors to supply Direct
Data
Capture Machines (DDCMs) which are
required for the forthcoming
voters’
registration exercise.
Newsdiaryonline learnt that , the office
of the INEC chairman officially
acknowledged receipt of a letter from
the legal chambers of Chief Karina
Tunyan (SAN)on Tuesday threatening to
‘`commence legal action’’ against
Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC, the
Attorney-General of the Federation and
three companies – Haier Thermocool,
Zinox Computers Limited and Avant
Technology.
In a letter
dated September 27, 2010 which was also
copied to President Goodluck Jonathan,
the Senate President, Speaker of the
House of Representatives the solicitors
demanded immediate termination of
contractual transactions on the DDCM .
The letter to the INEC boss Professor
Jega was titled “Notice of Intention to
commence legal action against INEC in
respect of the proposed procurement of
the new
Voters’ Register by INEC which is a
wanton infringement of the patent rights
and
designs of our client, contrary to
Section 25 of the Patents and Designs
Act,
Cap C28, Laws of the Federation of
Nigeria, 2004”
Among other things, the letter urges
Jega to “Take notice that on your
receipt of this notice, you are to
cancel/terminate forthwith, any
contractual transaction between your
good self and the affected companies or
any other person(s) relating to the said
patented products of our clients.
Otherwise our client will not hesitate
to immediately commence this legal
action against you without any other
notice to you to that effect,”
The lawyer
alleged
that
INEC deliberately refused to heed its
words of caution
which required INEC
to
obtain his client’s written consent
before going ahead with its
arrangements. In his
view,
Sections 6, 44 and 46 of the 1999
constitution as well as Section 25 of
the Patents and Designs Act, 2004
support the claims of Bedding Holdings
Limited.
Thus the letter said:“From the
foregoing, it will amount to a wanton
act of illegality for INEC to proceed to
award contracts for the production,
acquisition, importation and/or supply
of any equipment ancillary to, or
associated with the process and
application of the voters register
without first seeking and obtaining the
written license, consent and authority
of our client to that effect,” he
added.Not done yet,the solicitors
asked for ten reliefs for his
client, Bedding Holdings Limited,
including at least 50 percent of the
contract sums and N10 billion as
“general damages”.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC
chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu reportedly
said“If it is true that the letter has
been received by the chairman’s office,
the chairman will seek appropriate legal
advice and act accordingly,” .
But the Managing Director of Bedding
Holdings, Dr. Odigie Oyegun insists his
company’s threat of legal action is
justifiable.“The concept is all about
providing the bio data of persons. The
process and the application of using the
DDC machine to achieve and produce
information about voters infringes on
two of our patents – Proof of Address
System Scheme (PASS) and Electronic
Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes
(ECTBB) vide Patent Right Number 16642
and Copyright Design Number RD 13841
respectively,”he reportedly said in an
sms .
But Nigerians will watch with keen
interest as there are growing fears that
the 2011 elections are already
threatened by time constraints.If
Beddings Holdings Limited
goes
to court to stop INEC,it may shatter the
expectations of Nigerians about
a timely voters’ register for a
credible election.Whether reason will
preveail in this unfolding tussle
remains to be seen.
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