INEC’s independence foundation of Nigeria’s democracy – Clement Nwankwo

We hardly get corruption cases prosecuted to logical conclusion in Nigeria, what do you think is wrong?I don’t think that there is the political will to tackle corruption in Nigeria. Clearly, this government is not serious about curbing corruption and indeed at this time allegations of corruption against government has intensified and it is even […]

We hardly get corruption cases prosecuted to logical conclusion in Nigeria, what do you think is wrong?
I don’t think that there is the political will to tackle corruption in Nigeria. Clearly, this government is not serious about curbing corruption and indeed at this time allegations of corruption against government has intensified and it is even wide spread so there is no political will to tackle corruption. When a president says that people mistake stealing for corruption, then you can understand what that means in terms of giving political strength to the authorities charged with anti-corruption to deal with the issue.
Chief Edwin Clark and the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly have called for the resignation of the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the creation of 30,000 polling units, do you support this call?
There have been moves in the past by people who have been uncomfortable with Prof. Jega as Chairman of INEC. Civil society groups will challenge any spurious attempt to remove Prof. Jega as chairman of INEC. Removing him will discredit any discussion on the 2015 elections. If people are calling for his removal on the grounds that we see, that cannot justify it. It is clearly worrying for me and the civil society groups how much politics has crept into this. He has said that he would not resign and we support him because we don’t see any reason for him to resign.
With the creation of the 30, 000 polling units when elections are less than one year away, would you say that Prof. Jega is not aware of the law that forbids changes in election laws one year before elections?
Where there is a perception that a particular action of the umpire appears to ignite concerns about fairness, then INEC cannot pretend that it is not aware of that concern and insist on enforcing its decision. Perception is very important and INEC is to address that perception in the minds of a segment in the Nigerian population that they have been unfairly treated in the allocation of polling units.
INEC must address the perception issue but I do not believe that what has happened warrants Jega’s resignation. The call for Jega’s resignation is politically motivated as there are people who do not value the importance of an INEC chair that has shown capacity to be balanced and to be non-partisan in the discharge of his duties and those are the people we are worried about. That sort of environment for the 2015 elections, I think that they should pull back because civil society would challenge any undue interference with the independence of INEC ahead of the 2015 elections.
It was alleged that Prof. Jega’s tenure as chairman of INEC has elapsed and that he does not have any credibility again and would you say that based on these grounds Jega should resign and reverse the 30,000 polling units created?
 We were in the National Assembly when the confirmation of Prof. Jega came through in 2010 July. The tenure of the chairman of INEC is five years, it will only elapse next year so anybody arguing about his tenure elapsing is again giving a dog a bad name to hang him and there are people who are very desperate to have Jega not to preside over the 2015 elections for political reasons. There is no other evidence. We know that the PDP and the APC at various times accused Jega but as civil society we have not seen sufficient reasons to ask that he vacates his position.
The position of INEC chairman is very sacrosanct and cannot be interfered with because it goes to the root and basis of our democracy. Were that to be tampered with, then this democracy would be in serious danger. We cannot interfere with the independence of an election umpire ahead of an election. If this government or any party wants to interfere with it then they might as well prepare that there will be no elections in 2015.
We think he is doing a good job. There are challenges but we are prepared as civil society to support INEC to deliver on its responsibilities.
INEC needs to look at the complaints from across the country; the basis for its calculation of creation of polling units and go back to the drawing board and address these concerns. But I do not think that what has happened is sufficient to call for Prof. Jega’s resignation. He cannot be removed except by the National Assembly as well.
Prof. Jega is not the governor of CBN, not the chairman of National Population Commission, he is the chairman of INEC and the sanctity and independence of INEC is the foundation of the continued existence of Nigeria’s democracy, this fourth Republic and if it was to be interfered with then it would pose a serious challenge for the survival of this current democracy.
What is your take on the abuse of political advertisement?
The Electoral Act is quite clear that it is only a political party that can canvas for votes for a candidate. What we can see here is an exploitation of the loose end of the Electoral Act because you cannot say at this time that any candidate has emerged. Those who are canvassing for votes are hiding under this lacuna that they are not campaigning for a candidate and that they are only campaigning for someone to be a candidate and so they are stretching the meaning of the law to give themselves the latitude to make this expenditure.
 Look at the adverts that have been carried out by one or two campaign groups on behalf of the president to get him to be a candidate. It is very obscene and vulgar, because no less than 50 advertisements occur daily in different media houses, radio and television and newspapers in favour of a sitting president to be candidate. In a normal, politically accountable society you should ask the question, where is the money coming from? On TV alone each of those adverts would cost N1 million per minute, so if you find that a group is spending close to N100 million daily then there is a huge scandal that needs to be exposed. It is vulgar, obscene and unacceptable. That is why there is no political will to deal with corruption. Those monies cannot be coming from individual pockets; it is coming from the public treasures by some contrivance. The question is why is this going on? Why is it allowed to go on? What we can see now calling the president to come out and contest, is it different from political campaign?
Without going into names, the Electoral Act itself leaves a vacuum that some of these amorphous groups that are united by money are pursing to say “we are not violating Section 91 of the Electoral Act, we are simply saying a particular person should declare his intention and run. But at this time the Electoral Act say don’t spend money on a candidate and there is no candidate, which is their simplistic understanding of what is going on. But there is a moral question about these campaigns that are going on – the vulgarity and obscenity of the expenditure is a huge challenge for the ordinary Nigerian.
What have the civil society groups done?
A lot of us have raised concern about the nature of political expenditure, funding and campaigns. Campaigns and expenditure must be within the law. And the Electoral Act prescribes the amount that should be spent and we have raised public concern about the expenditure because no individual will spend his money the way these monies are being spent. It raises suspicion that these are public funds that are laundered into political campaigns.