Worried by the long history of missteps in the country’s electoral system, the committee on political parties and electoral matters of the national conference took the bull by the horn in making very radical proposals for future credible elections. Assistant Editor (North), CHUKS EHIRIM, reports
Jega (middle) with committee members of the political parties and electoral matters
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, would have unwittingly succeeded in increasing the rank of his critics, if he had stayed away from the special sitting of the sub-committee on political parties and electoral matters of the national conference, which rounded off its activities last week, at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
The committee had almost concluded its deliberations, preparatory to writing the final report that would be submitted to the leadership of the conference when it returns to plenary. But it needed to hear from the man at the helm of affairs in one of the nation’s most controversial institutions – INEC, before wrapping it up. An invitation was thus extended to Jega, to appear before the committee.
At first, the former president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) appeared to have toyed with the idea of calling the bluff of the conferees. Rather than appear in person, Jega sent one of his subordinate – Prof. Nuru Yakubu, INEC National Commissioner.
But the committee members, TheNiche reliably gathered, were not very well disposed to Jega’s failure to attend in person. So they rescheduled their sitting. On the D-day, last Tuesday to be precise, Jega couldn’t make it in the morning session when he was scheduled to appear before the committee. That set some tongues wagging. But before the delegates could decide on the next line of action, the INEC chairman arrived in company of other dignitaries from the commission.
Before his arrival, TheNiche had scooped on some of the vital decisions or likely recommendations of the committee. According to a reliable source within the committee, it was resolved that the following recommendations should be forwarded to the plenary – the unbundling of INEC, the creation of a special court for prosecution of electoral offenders, delineation of electoral constituencies, composition of the electoral management body, time-frame for disposing of all election-related legal issues, conduct of all elections in one day, the issue of re-run election, staggering of elections, among others.
The source stated that the sub-committee was of the opinion that INEC should be unbundled, to make for efficiency in the conduct of elections.
“The sub-committee is of the opinion that INEC should be unbundled. So much has been given to INEC, but the commission has not been able to deliver, at least satisfactorily, on its mandate. Take the issue of political parties and tracking their expenditures, especially on campaigns, we have not heard anything about that,” said the source.
“Now, there is the issue of delineation of constituencies. Some of us are of the opinion that this particular function should be taken to the National Population Commission (NPC) because that commission is in charge of head-count. It has the competence; it has the data about the entire constituencies in the country. What we wanted to do was to strip INEC of some of these functions. The sub-committee is of the opinion that INEC should be stripped of all extraneous mandates and its role limited to the conduct of free and fair elections only.
“Anything that is outside of this regime, we are considering taking it to the National Assembly or the plenary. Let INEC be unbundled and these other duties be taken to other departments or a whole new commission be created.”
On the composition of INEC, the man said: “This is very important. So far, the president of the country is in charge of the appointment of INEC chairman, as well as all the national commissioners.”
He added that so long as this practice continues, “INEC will continue to be a suspect in electoral malpractices”.
To avoid this type of situation, he said the committee was of the view that a new electoral body should be composed of the representatives of various bodies and interest groups in the country. This, he posited, is to strip the presidency of the sole power of nominating and appropriating the chairmanship of INEC. “Of course, we have agreed with the report of Justice Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms, that INEC should be on first line charge on financial matters, to enhance its operational autonomy.”
The committee, he said, had equally looked into the issue of election litigations and settled for strengthening the judicial arm for this purpose.
“We have agreed that the Federal High Court should be transformed into Constitutional Court, so that it could tackle issues of fundamental human rights and also tackle issues of electoral matters,” he remarked.
The committee, TheNiche further gathered, also resolved on the time-frame within which litigations arising from election disputes would be disposed of.
“We want to limit the time-frame within which election petitions would be disposed of”, our source said, adding that “the sub-committee also agreed on something that is very fundamental. If any case arises from a pre-election matter, if it is not disposed of within the statutory 180 days, the winner will not be sworn in. Once it is May 29, when all those elected are sworn in, once there is a case still pending, you have to give way. It is only after the case must have been disposed of that you can be sworn in.”
There were other vital decisions the committee was said to have taken, including staggered elections, holding all elections same day.
When Jega eventually appeared before the panel members that Tuesday evening, most of the questions he was asked were based on these areas. The professor did not disappoint his audience. For instance, when he was taken up on the report of the Juctice Uwais Committee of which he was a member, he provided a tailor-made answer.
“I believe that the committee did an excellent job, devoted a lot of time and energy and made wide-ranging consultations and so on. I personally, fully, subscribe to all the recommendations of that committee,” he said.
He however, added a caveat: “I have been in INEC now for three years, and obviously I have seen things that I didn’t know before, which have enriched my knowledge, but they have substantially changed my position with regard to the recommendations of the Uwais committee.”
He continued: “I believe that the composition of INEC, as recommended by Justice Uwais panel, was what we thought as the best under the circumstances in our country. I believe that the challenge of the autonomy of the electoral body is with regard to how that body is appointed and how it is constituted. But you know these things are matters of law. The Uwais committee made its recommendations. I think also that 80 per cent of those recommendations have been implemented in one way or the other.”
He made it clear before the committee members that financial autonomy for the commission is a settled issue. “Two issues about independence: financial autonomy and autonomy with regard to appointments and composition; I think we have now achieved financial autonomy, both by law and also now, in practice, in full compliance with the law. Once funds are appropriated, they are released to INEC,” he said.
But he argued that it is not the same with political autonomy.
His words: “The issue of political autonomy has to do with perception, which was what the Uwais committee wanted to address. It is not enough to be independent in action, you should also be seen to be independent.” he said.
On the issue of holding all elections in one day, Jega stuck to his gun, providing reasons it is not feasible in contemporary Nigeria. He literally took the committee members on excursion to Kenya where he claimed that the electoral commission, after holding all the country’s elections same day, has been full of regrets. So he ruled it out for Nigeria, at least for now. He raised similar argument against staggered elections which, he said, could only be achieved through legislation.
The INEC chairman was, however, rattled when a member of the committee – former president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Sani Zoro – took him up on the cases of the commission’s branded items such as the batteries of the Direct Data Capture (DDC) machine being hawked in open market both within and outside Nigeria. A bewildered Jega could not believe what he was hearing when Zoro produced a copy of the INEC-branded DDC battery he purchased in an open market in Niger Republic. According to Zoro, the seller, a woman, had boasted that if he (Zoro) needed 10,000 copies, she would make the supply with relative ease.
A shocked Jega managed some unsatisfactory explanation, promising to carry out investigations on how the items found their way to the open markets. He explained also that, occasionally, INEC used to dispose of some items it no longer required. The media, as usual, lost out when a question was raised on whether there would be elections in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, which are under state of emergency, if the situation remains so in 2015. The INEC boss declined to comment on the issue with the media people around, for fear of being “misquoted”.