INEC’s flag-off of activities for the 2015 elections comes more as mere formality, as leading political parties had, before now, engaged on subtle campaigns. Editor, Politics/Features, EMEKA ALEX DURU, writes.
With the issuance of notice on general elections slated for February 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), last Wednesday, officially flagged off activities for the 2015 politics.
INEC guidelines
The notice, as contained in the INEC guidelines, is in line with Section 30 (1) of the Electoral Act. The commission also released the guidelines for the conduct of the election to the 25 registered political parties in the country in which it instructed that they had between October 2 and December 31 to conduct primaries to choose their candidates.
In the notice of elections posted on its website, the commission said: “In accordance with Section 30 of the Electoral Act (as amended), notice is hereby given that election to the following offices shall hold as follows: the presidential and National Assembly elections shall take place on February 14, 2015; while the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections shall take place on February 28, 2015.”
Analysts see INEC’s action as in keeping with Section 99 of the 2010 Electoral Act. The section stipulates: “For the purpose of this Act, the period of campaigning in public by every political party shall commence 90 days before polling day and shall end 24 hours prior to that day.”
PDP, APC dates
Incidentally, before INEC’s notice, leading political parties in the land had come up with dates for their primaries for various positions. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for example, had, last month, fixed December 6, 2014 as the day for its presidential primary. National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, who made the disclosure, also stated that the party had fixed November 22 for its National Assembly primaries and November 29 for that of governorship.
All Progressives Congress (APC), on the other hand, had scheduled December 2 for its presidential primary, with governorship primaries slated for November 15 and that of the Senate for November 29.
Subtle campaigns
The parties had also gone ahead with what had all the trappings of campaigns, simply calling them rallies. So, notwithstanding the provision that forbids campaigning until 90 days to election, the polity had already been agog with all kinds of electioneering.
For instance, the APC, had, in a well-publicised event on March 7, 2014 in Abuja, reeled out what it said was the party’s roadmap, detailing what Nigerians stood to benefit from voting for it in 2015.
It later followed it up by sending unsolicited text messages to Nigerians, highlighting some of its campaign promises which included free healthcare and education, monthly stipend of N5,000 to the elderly among other political goodies.
Like the APC, the PDP has embarked on even more elaborate show ahead of the 2015 general election to woo voters to its side.
Aside orchestrated media jingles advertising the strides of the federal administration led by the party, groups that were suspected to have the blessing of the government are known to have embarked on country-wide activities in positioning PDP for next year’s election.
Endorsement of Jonathan
Leading the campaign team for the party is President Goodluck Jonathan, who, with a retinue of PDP chieftains, has been touring the country in what the party cleverly termed ‘Unity Rally’.
The Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), which has held rallies in the six geo-political zones of the country, has not been left out in the obvious campaign for the president and his party.
PDP, in fact, took the bizarre engagement a step further, when its 66th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, on Thursday, September 18, eventually turned out an endorsement meeting, as all the organs of the party from the Board of Trustees (BoT), PDP Governors’ Forum (PDPGF) and to the NEC in session adopted the president as the sole candidate of the party for the presidential election.
That was a particular action by the ruling party that many saw as tilting to the extreme. Ikechi Onyema, a lawyer, had for instance, likened the action by PDP to “labour before pregnancy”, arguing that the exercise, which took place even without the president officially declaring intention to run and INEC lifting the veil on political campaigns, was totally ridiculous.
INEC’s face-saving stunt
Curiously, while INEC had admitted that some of the political parties were in breach of the Electoral Act by engaging in early campaigns, its Chairman, Attahiru Jega, seemed to be playing safe by refusing to name the offenders and their particular offence, like in the case of the PDP and APC that had held rallies where their manifestoes were freely publicised in the media.
Jega rather said: “Anybody that comes out now to say ‘vote for me in 2015’ is breaching the electoral law. You can hold a rally as a party, but you don’t turn it into a campaign.” The political parties however did.
Kaduna-based lawyer, Abdulaziz Ibrahim, is thus not excited by INEC’s action on lifting the ban on campaigns. He rather described it as face-saving measure in the face of activities of TAN, which has been campaigning for Jonathan’s re-election.
“INEC doesn’t know what to do. Its hands are tied. So, it did what it did to save face, to justify what pro-Jonathan groups like TAN have been doing. You know that people have been asking INEC why it had not penalised TAN for campaigning for Jonathan before the approved time for electioneering. So, the commission did it (issuance of notice) to save face,” he said.
Ibrahim also said notwithstanding INEC’S pronouncement, the APC stands disadvantaged under the circumstance.
“The APC will have to play catch-up because you know the PDP has a presidential candidate already, while the APC has to wait till December 2 to know who will be its candidate. And that will be eight weeks to the election,” he said. Analysts see this as the ruling party already having undue advantage over its main rival.
