Essay
By Mike Ozekhome
INTRODUCTION
THE need for the Commission to carry out its functions free from any external control is very crucial considering the fact that free, fair and credible elections form the very basis of citizens’ participation in the choice of their elected representatives into public office which is the essence of democracy. The Constitution could not have envisaged that INEC will share this power with any other authority or organ of government but sadly, that has become the reality as election tribunals and courts have repeatedly declared as winners of elections candidates different from those declared through INEC, the body that organised, undertook and supervised the ballot. It is a serious irregularity, and aberration for INEC to conduct an election and declare a winner, and for other persons who took no part in the conduct of the election (the Judiciary) to declare a different person as winner.
THE SHOCKING EXPRESSION OF HELPLESSSNESS BY INEC
As the preparation for the 2023 general elections heated up, it was observed that the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and former Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, did not purchase the APC’s expression of interest and nomination forms for election to the Senate.
They were not screened for election to the Senate. They did not participate in the APC primaries for the Senate. Indeed, each of the duo purchased the expression of interest and nominations forms for the presidential primary for N100 million and were screened for that position by the APC. They proceeded to participate in the well televised presidential primary election of the APC held in Abuja and monitored by INEC.
Meanwhile, in the senatorial primaries conducted by the APC and monitored by INEC, Rtd. DIG. Udom Ekpoudom and Bashir Machina emerged the candidates for Akwa Ibom West Senatorial District and Yobe North Senatorial District, respectively. Even though both candidates did not withdraw from the senatorial race, the APC went ahead and submitted the names of Senators Godwin Akpabio and Ahmed Lawan for the two Districts, in utter breach of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In regards to this issue, Mallam Mohammed Haruna (one of INEC’s Commissioners), stated that INEC has no powers to reject names submitted by political parties. He was reported to have said as follows:
“INEC has no powers to reject names sent by political parties. Primaries are the sole prerogatives of parties. INEC’s responsibility is merely to monitor the primaries and make sure they abide by their own regulations, the Electoral Act & the Constitution.”
“Our power in that regard rests on the fact that our reports are admissible as evidence whenever an aggrieved candidate petitions his party or the courts. It is therefore up to an aggrieved candidate to apply for the certified true copy (CTC) of our reports for presentation as evidence that his party did not abide by any or all of the three sets of regulations I mentioned.”
“In the specific of Lawan & Akpabio, INEC has not picked & chosen as you said, citing media remarks by the Akwa Ibom REC. We merely received their names from the parties as stipulated in Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act.”
“This does not automatically mean acceptance. The names submitted by the parties are interim. Section 29(3) provides for the publication, within a week of their submission, of the names submitted by the parties for claims & objections.”
As shown from our earlier analysis, Mohammed was dead wrong on his postulations. Mike Igini, that brilliant and incorruptible INEC Commissioner legally correct when he said that it must be understood that party primaries and nomination processes are governed by sections 29 and 84 therein. He continued that it is the responsibility of the National Working Committee (NWC) of political parties to conduct primary elections and set up Party Primary Election Committees for all States. The duty of the State Executive is thereby to provide the venue. This accords with the provisions of Section 84 (1) which states that “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the commission.” It is therefore clear that INEC’s monitoring is mandatory. Any primary held without being monitored by officials of INEC is clearly illegal. Thus, Mr. Haruna, got it all wrong because INEC’s power have since gone beyond “merely to monitor” party primaries. Its report is a sine qua non. Falana further opined that the implication of the foregoing is that the duty imposed by section 29(1) on political parties is to ensure that the candidates whose names are submitted to INEC must have emerged from valid primaries, as against the earlier position in Section 31 of the now repealed Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended). Under that regime, INEC was not empowered in any way howsoever to reject names of candidates submitted by political parties. This position has however been clearly fortified in Section 84(13) of the 2022 Electoral Act. This section ensures that not only can INEC monitor party primaries, it is also legally empowered to reject names of candidates who did not emanate from valid primaries duly conducted by its accredited monitors. However, INEC’s decision is subject to judicial review under section 285( 14) ( b) to the Fourth Alteration of the 1999 Constitution which gives an aspirant power to access the Federal High Court, in a “pre-election matter”, to challenge “the actions, decisions or activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission in respect of his participation in an election” ; or when he “complains that the provisions of the Electoral Act pr any Act of the National Assembly regulating elections in Nigeria has not been complied with by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the selection or nomination of candidates and participation in an election”.
THE WAY FORWARD
Section 285(14) and section 84(13) of the Electoral Act having given INEC the powers it requires to reject names of candidates that did not participate in elections, it becomes surprising to see INEC working assiduously and recklessly hard to be neckless INEC must braze up to have the political will to enforce the law. The prevarication by the INEC in the face of obvious illegality by some parties, especially the APC in submitting the names of Lawan and Akpabio who did not participate in the party primaries to INEC is not because of the absence of statutory powers to so act; it is due lack of the political will to enforce the clear provisions of the law. I cannot find any lacuna in the law that INEC requires to be filled.
CONCLUSION
The law has given INEC enough ammunition as far as rejection or disqualification of a candidate in an election is concerned. Rather than take the bull by the horns and take full charge of the electoral process, INEC is recklessly fighting to be “NECKLESS”.
There is no doubt that INEC under the legal regime of the present Electoral Act, 2022, has been given every power to disqualify a candidate that did not emerge from a VALID PRIMARY. INEC must realize that Nigeria has moved away from the era of arbitrary imposition and illegal substitution of the names of candidates by political parties with impunity. It is inconceivable that a person who did not participate in a Senatorial primary, but rather participated in a presidential primary and lost in the full glare of the public, should suddenly emerge from the blues to replace candidates that fully participated in and emerged from valid primaries in accordance with section 29 (1) of the Electoral Act. Unless such winners of party primaries voluntarily withdraw from the electoral process under section 31 thereof, such candidate cannot be substituted. Where such wrongful submission of such names to INEC occurs, INEC should immediately invoke its powers to disqualify the said candidates under section 84(13) and impose a N10 million naira fine on the political party that brought forth such name in accordance with section 29(8) of the Act. Any further abdication by INEC of its enormous powers under the Constitution and the Electoral Act is an ill wind that blows no one any good. (The End).
SERIOUS AND TRIVIAL
“In South Africa, the biggest churches are owned by Nigerians. In Nigeria, the biggest businesses are owned by South Africans” – Anonymous
“INDEED NOTHING LASTS FOREVER
“No matter how long it lives, the Greatest Lion will eventually die miserably. That’s the world.
“At their Peak, they rule, chase other animals, catch, devour, gulp and leave their crumbs for hyenas. But age comes fast.
“The old Lion can’t hunt, can’t kill or defend itself. It roams and roars until it runs out of luck. It will be cornered by the hyenas, nibbled at and eaten alive by them. They won’t even let it die before it is dismembered.
“Life is short. Power is ephemeral. Physical beauty is short-lived, I have seen it in lions. I have seen it in old people. Everyone who lives long enough will become weak and very vulnerable at some point.
“Therefore, let us be humble. Help the sick, the weak, the vulnerable and most importantly never forget that we will leave the stage one day.” – Anonymous.
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK
“The intelligent ruler makes the laws select men and makes no arbitrary appointment himself; he makes the law measure merits and makes no arbitrary judgment himself”. (Han Fei).
“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.” (Ayn Rand).
A.I
Tags: Ahmed Lawan APC Mallam Mohammed Haruna Rtd. DIG. Udom Ekpoudom Senator Godswill Akpabio
