INEC and the dimming hope of Electoral Act amendment

That will leave the electoral empire at crossroads in some areas for the conduct of the elections.The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) submitted proposals to the National Assembly for amendment of some sections of the Act, which it says, had been making its works “ambiguous and confusing,” especially in dealing with the antics of political […]

That will leave the electoral empire at crossroads in some areas for the conduct of the elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) submitted proposals to the National Assembly for amendment of some sections of the Act, which it says, had been making its works “ambiguous and confusing,” especially in dealing with the antics of political parties and other stakeholders.
There are 37 sections of the Act that have been amended by the National Assembly with parts either deleted or inserted, mostly as requested by INEC.
But the most pressing sections, which the commission has been praying to be passed before the general elections include Section 31, which deals with the submission of names of candidates to it by political parties; Section 33, which requires candidates to  provide  information and court affidavit and Section 86 which deals with monitoring of political parties.
Others are Section 87 – disqualification of a candidate; Section 90 – limitation of contribution to political parties; and Section 94 – conduct of political rallies and processions.
There is also the amendment to Section 29, which allows INEC to request or order for the deployment of security personnel during elections. But this request and a few others faced strenuous opposition during debate in the House of Representatives.
Although there was no specific proposal by the commission on the case of voting by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), largely because the issue did not become pervasive as it is presently when the proposals were submitted, there is however a separate bill sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume to allow IDPs voting opportunity in 2015.
In the same vein, pressure from politicians and the National Assembly has forced INEC to equally raise a committee to look into the possibility of allowing IDPs to vote.
It tasked the committee, headed by a National Commissioner, Mrs. Thelma Iremiren, to among others “(a) Examine the legal, political, security and administrative challenges in achieving IDP voting during the 2015 General Election; (b)  Evaluate the standards and recommendations emerging from conferences and workshops by international and local agencies on IDP voting, and determine their applicability to Nigeria for the 2015 General Election; (c)  Review the experiences of other jurisdictions in dealing with the challenges of IDP voting and (d)  Evaluate the adequacy of existing electoral legal framework for resolving the challenges of IDP voting in the 2015 General Elections.”
INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega, has never lost an opportunity in most of his engagements with stakeholders to harp on the need to get the Electoral Act amended so as to overcome the constraints the commission is facing.
“With regards to political party primaries and the nomination of candidates, there is a provision in the Electoral Act which actually creates conflict and confusion in terms of ensuring and regulating internal party democracy.
“Section 31 of the Electoral Act says when a party does a primary and submits the name of the candidate to INEC, INEC should not reject that name submitted by the party. Then, there is Section 87 of the same Electoral Act which states that candidates of the political parties should emerge through democratic process,” Professor Jega said at one of the stakeholders interfaces in December.
He added that: “Now both the Electoral Act and the constitution have mandated INEC to monitor political party primaries. So any time a political party conducts primary, we send people to monitor – we hear different reports of how it happened – to see whether they have complied with the party’s constitution, to see whether they have complied with the Electoral Act and to see whether they have complied with the constitution.
“In 2011, we had situations when we would send monitors, they would come and produce a report. We would know who emerged in the primary through democratic means, as Section 87 of the Electoral Act says, but the names that the party send in to INEC were totally different.
“Some of them, for example, they will ignore number one and send number three, or they will even ignore the list and send somebody who does not even participate in the primary and of course a provision in the Electoral Act created that ambiguity and confusion and there is nothing we could do. If we did not accept, they would blame us of interfering in the internal activities of political parties.”
Also, the chairman has always referred to the amendment issues of diaspora voting,  constituency delimitation, electronic voting in Nigeria and conducting elections in one day, which he said would even be practically impossible notwithstanding the provision of the law.
However, the National Assembly has gone far in the process of the amendment, albeit the politicking in the country has since overtaken the lawmakers’ work to pass the amendment.
Presently, the bill, tagged “An Act to further amend the electoral Act, No. 6, 2010 to ensure a level playing field for all participants in the electoral process and for a more transparent process of conducting elections in Nigeria and other matters connected therewith, 2014” is yet to be passed in the House of Representatives.
A copy of the bill, obtained by Daily Trust, shows that most of the proposals submitted by INEC have been effected in the new bill.
For instance, some of the amendments include a new paragraph that has been inserted in Section 29, which says “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law and for purposes of securing  vote, the commission shall be responsible for requesting for the deployment of relevant security personnel necessary for elections or registration of voters and shall assign them in the manner determined by the commission in consultation with the relevant security agencies.
“Provided that the commission shall request for the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces only for the purpose of securing the distribution and delivery of election materials.”
Section 87 of the Principal Act was also amended with insertion of a new subsection (9A) as “Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act or rules of a political party, an aspirant who complains that any of the provisions of this Act and guidelines of a political party has not been complied with in the selection or nomination of a candidate of a political party for election, shall within 14 days of the non-compliance complained of, apply to the Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja for redress.”
There are other amendments in the bill that involve questioning the sources of individual’s monetary or other contributions to a political party, roles of police in the parties’ rallies and processions, organising of presidential, governorship and their running mates debates ahead of election by INEC and many others.
Be that as it may, even after the bill’s passage by both chambers, conference committees from the Senate and the House, have to be raised to interface and harmonise the amendments before the final sailing into law of the bill.
Before its long recess late last year, the House of Representatives had twice listed the continuation of the consideration of the Act, that stalled over a member’s disagreement with a particular section.
Rep Simon Yakubu Arabo (PDP, Kaduna), who is also a member of the committee, raised eyebrows on a proviso in Clause 9, which talks on the inability of INEC to reject a candidate submitted by his/her political party that was agreed to be deleted at the level of the committee’s meeting, but has surprisingly remain on the new amendment.
But successive absence of the committee’s chairman, Rep Jeri Manwe (PDP, Taraba) could not allow the lawmakers to proceed in the consideration, owing to what the presiding deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha said the bill’s importance and the sensitive electoral matters it contains.
INEC, through the chairman’s spokesperson, Kayode Idowu told Daily Trust yesterday it would be better if the lawmakers could pass the law as soon as they resume next Tuesday.
“What else can we do? We submitted the proposal since 2012. There has been stakeholder engagement and they are on recess,” Idowu said.
With 37 days to the general elections, observers fear the inability of the National Assembly to pass the bill and have it sent to the president for assent within the limited time.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Jeri Manwe confirmed to Daily Trust via phone yesterday that the amendment is being done for the 2019 elections, not for the 2015 election.
He said presently, the consideration of the committee’s work has been suspended and “even if it would be passed, will the president assent to it before election?” he asked.  
Rep Manwe added that INEC’s expectations for the passage of the amendment before 2015 general elections would not be actualised, as his position is the present reality on ground.
Upon resumption on Tuesday, the lawmakers are likely to be engaged with issues of budget consideration and the yet-to-be passed Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which usually sets the benchmark for the pricing of oil that determines the annual budgets funding.
Traditionally, the lawmakers via different standing committees spend about a month engaging various government ministries, parastatals and agencies for the defence of their allocated budgets. It would however be difficult for the legislators to spend more than three weeks before heading back for campaigns ahead of the election.