Electoral Reforms: Between Amendment Bill And Reforms Committee Report

The expediency of strengthening the electoral laws in Nigeria appears to be undermined by the politics of the critical stakeholders, the executive and Legislative arm of governments. The back and forth between both arms of government over the amendment of the law, largely on account of partisan politics, has threatened whether or not the bill would ever get passed in this dispensation. Despite promises of robust electoral laws that would guarantee free, fair and credible elections come 2019 by the current administration, President Muhammadu Buhari has on three occasions declined assent to the bill seeking amendment to the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended), which was passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly. This scenario, according to analysts, undermines expectations of having better laws to govern the electoral process with less than 150 days to the 2019 elections. Analysts believe that except the National Assembly hurriedly addresses the concerns raised by the President and resend the bill for possible assent, or resolve to override the president’s veto, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the hope of having a new electoral law is bleak, giving the various controversies surrounding enactment of the bill. Although the last version of the bill was rejected by President Buhari due to drafting issues, which according to the Presidency, remain unaddressed, a fresh revelation that a provision which seeks to guarantee the use of card reader in the election was not included is another controversy which requires urgent explanation by the National Assembly. Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Senator Ita Enang, declared recently that as against the version of the bill sent to the President in June 2018 which had 41 amendments, the latest alterations passed by the National Assembly on July 24 and sent to the President for assent on August 3, 2018 had only 15 amended sections and that the provision seeking to legalise the Smart Card Reader by amendment to Section 49 of the previous amendment was not included in the last version of the bill. Other notable provisions in the June amendment which are missing in the latest effort include Section 8 which attempts to make the Independent National Electoral Commission staff non-partisan; Section 31(6) which criminalises presentation of false affidavit by a candidate or political party which is supposed to lead to disqualification by the court; amendment to Section 52 which lifts ban on electronic voting; alteration to Section 65 (a) which paved the way for the creation of the National Electronic Register of Election Results; amendment to Section 78 (4) which would have given INEC 60 days instead of 30 days to respond to applications of political associations seeking to register as political parties. Other omitted amendments are alteration of Section 91 subsection 2 – 7 which increased expenditure ceiling for candidates. The section increased the amount the following candidates can spend on their campaigns: President – N5bn from N1bn; Governor N1bn from N200m; Senate – N100m from N40m; House of Reps. N70m from N20m; State House of Assembly – N30m from N10m; Chairman Area Council – N30m from N10m and Councillorship N5m from N1m. Likewise, amendment to Section 91 (9) which increased individual donations from N1m to N10m while pegging the fine at one per cent of the ceiling or 12 months imprisonment (subsection 10) is also missing. Similarly, attempt to amend Section 99 to increase the campaign period from 90 days to 150 days has been deleted while penalties for non-compliance with Section 100 subsections 3 and 4 which have to do with media coverage are no longer in the new amendment. Furthermore, amendment of Section140 which imposed stricter penalties of N2m fine or two years imprisonment for omission of party logos and name is no longer there. While the fate of Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 is still hanging in the balance, the Federal Executive Council at its meeting, penultimate Wednesday, approved a fresh bill for the amendment of Electoral Act and another bill seeking the establishment of a proposed Electoral Offences Commission. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, said the FEC approved three bills for transmission to and passage by the National Assembly. According to Malami, the proposed approved bills approved by the Councils are the Constitution Alteration Bill (2018); Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill (2018); and the Electoral Offences Commission Bill (2018). The AGF attributed the proposed bills to the efforts of the Electoral Reforms Committee led by a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani. It is however unclear whether or not the proposed bill if eventually passed into law will not be used in the conduct of the forthcoming general election. Tracing the history of the Senator Nnamani-led committee, one would wonder why the government waited until about 157 days to the elections before coming-up with these new bills. The Federal Government had in 2016 set up a constitutional and electoral reforms committee. The Committee according to its mandate reviewed electoral environment, laws and experiences from recent elections conducted in Nigeria and made recommendations to strengthen and achieve the conduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria in the country. While inaugurating the 25-man committee in October 2016, Malami, said he was directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to set up the committee. He added that President Buhari had in his inauguration speech stated his desire to deepen the country’s democracy and entrench the culture of an enduring electoral system. “It is important to evaluate our democratic journey thus far with a view to fashioning out a more enduring system that will serve present and future generations,” he said. He said recent judicial decisions have shown that there is urgent need to scale up confidence in the electoral system in Nigeria. Malami explained that the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Mahmoud, had decried the widespread distortion of binding judicial precedent with conflicting judgments. He decried a situation where electoral officials were killed or kidnapped and where politicians make the environment for elections a war theatre. According to him, the committee was expected to look into possible amendments to the Constitution and Electoral Act and come out with a more robust and generally acceptable electoral system. “The committee is also advised to take a holistic look of the recommendation of Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee,” he said. Although, some political analysts opined that there was no reason why the government should constitute another committee, as a similar assignment was professionally undertaken in 2007 and competently concluded in 2008 by the 22-man Electoral Reform Committee instituted by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua which was headed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Muhammadu Uwais. Members of the Uwais committee included the best of the stakeholders, attracting heavyweights from the academic, civil society organisations, professional groups and the public service. It was a testimony to the thoroughness of its outcome that the Yar’Adua administration accepted over 90 per cent of its recommendations and took immediate steps to implement them. The Uwais committee in its report covered the field, recommending measures that would improve the electoral environment; strengthen the legal framework and enhance the independence of the election management body. Specifically, it recommended among others, constitution amendments that would insulate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the influences of the executive arm of government in terms of its composition and funding. The power to appoint INEC board was to be transferred from the president to the National Judicial Council (NJC) while its funding was to be a first line charge on the Consolidated Revenue of the Federation. Election petition was to have time limit even as a Special Electoral Offences Commission was to be set up to try electoral offenders. Aside the refusal to cede the power of appointment of the INEC board, the Yar’Adua administration accepted most of the fundamental recommendations and was to begin implementation when the president took ill and eventually did not return to office. His successor, former President Goodluck Jonathan implemented the policy aspects and forwarded the entire report unedited to the National Assembly for consideration of areas requiring legal reforms and constitution amendments. The financial independence granted INEC in the first amendment to the 1999 Constitution and the electoral reforms embedded in the Electoral Act 2010 as amended as well as the little known Electoral Act 2015 accented to by President Jonathan on the eve of the general elections were based on the committee’s report. Therefore, some suggested that government ought to have conducted a review of the outstanding recommendations of the Uwais Committee report and forwarded them to the National Assembly for legislation. But Chairman of the committee, a former Senate President, Nnamani, said by his committee, he was confident that Mr. Buhari would enhance democratic structures in Nigeria. Nnamani, during one of the public hearings on political reform in Enugu, said the report being worked upon would provide ways to discourage attempts by politicians to win elections at all costs. “We want to come up with a new system whereby no one can be sworn into office if there are election petitions hanging on his neck. Politicians are fond of fighting to win and saying, ‘let us go to court”. The former Senate President said it was sad that prosecution of election cases had become costlier than campaigns. “Experience has shown that majority of the cases in our courts are either pre-election or post-election matters and we want to find a way out of this, we want to ensure that after a candidate has spent time to campaign and is given the mandate by the electorate, such mandates will not be dropped at the court, by way of losing in the case,” he said. While submitting its report to the AGF in May 2017, Nnamani said the committee’s recommendations would form an executive bill that would be sent to the National Assembly, noting that the Senate and the House of Representatives have bills on the same subject, but said the three bills would be harmonized at the National Assembly. However, Malami, in his remark, said the recommendations would be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari, with a view that the report would guide the Federal Government in preparing various proposals for the amendment of the Nigerian Constitution towards improving the electoral system in the country. He said government aimed to change the unethical way in which electoral officers managed elections in the past. “The committee has made recommendations on how to strengthen the INEC, the participation of independent candidates, the management of political parties and tackling of electoral offences among others,” Malami said. While all these efforts are geared towards achieving better elections in the country, and the government is right to push for new laws that will guarantee this feat, it is uncertain that the 2019 elections will benefit from such laws, this leaves more to be desired about the much anticipated 2019 general elections. Conflicting signals…. However, two weeks after the President rejected the third version of the Electoral Amendment bill , the National Assembly last Tuesday adopted the fourth version of the bill. In the latest version , the Senate and the House of the Representatives joint committee on Electoral Matters made some adjustments in line with observations raised by President Buhari for which he had rejected the third version of the bill. Giving update on the outcome of the proposed amendment to electoral bill at a joint press briefing in Abuja, the chairman of the joint committee , Senator Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North), disclosed that National Assembly was now on the same page with the executive and the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) on issues of clauses in the bill. President Buhari had, in refusing to assent to the third version of the amendment bill , listed about 14 contentious areas that must be addressed by the federal lawmakers for the 2010 Electoral Act ( Amendment ) Bill 2018 to see the light of the day. The president’s observations led to the 4th version of the bill, which was adopted by the joint committee of the National Assembly yesterday. The affected sections as announced by the chairman of the joint committee are 9 ( 1 A ) , 9 ( B 5 ) , 18 ( 1 – 4 ) , 19 ( 4 ) , 30 ( 1 ) , 31 ( 1 ) , 31 ( 7 ) , 36 ( 3 ) , 44 ( 3 – 4 ) , 67 ( a – d ) , 87 ( 2 ) , 87 ( 14 ) and 1124 . While section 9 ( 1 A ) deals with voters registers in electronic format and manual or hard copy format , section 18 ( 14 ) deals with process of replacement of voters card by INEC on demand by voters , which states that it must not be done less than 30 days before election. Section 36 ( 3 ) of the adopted bill makes provision for constitutional way out of the issue bordering on sudden death of candidate of a political party in the course of election as it happened in the Kogi gubernatorial election in 2016. The section states : “If after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner , the leading candidate dies , ( a ) , the commission shall , being satisfied of the fact of the death , suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days . “(b ) The political party whose candidate died may , if it intends to continue to participate in the election , conduct a fresh primary within 7 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to replace the dead candidate. “(c ) Subject to paragraphs ( a ) and ( b ) , the commission shall continue with the election , announce the final result and declare a winner ” . Senator Nazif however added that section 34 ( 2 – 4 ) , which deals with added laws on omission of party logo on ballot papers , was deleted. He explained that at no time was provision for usage of card reader deleted in any of the versions of the electoral bills . According to him , the adopted 4th electoral bill is a harmonised version of the 2nd and 3rd one. The committee chairman noted that the fourth version of the amendment bill will strengthen INEC to ensure free and fair elections in 2019. Nazif expressed optimism that the fourth amendment bill has addressed all controversies raised by the Executive which led to Buhari ’s decision to withhold assent thrice. He said the joint committee came up with additional Amendments based on the draft submitted by the Executive arm. He added that the first electoral amendment bill , which addressed the issue of sequence of elections also made provision for card reader as well as the powers of the National Assembly to legislate for local government councils , which the president declined assent. He also said that the second electoral amendment bill , which was concluded on June 26 , 2018 , addressed all issues raised by the executive . The chairman explained that part of the issues raised by the executive was the sequence of elections, which the National Assembly had resolved to delete in the second amendment . “ I want you to know that the National Assembly , INEC and the Executive are on the same page ,” Nazif said , maintaining that the third electoral amendment bill had the card reader but Mr . President withheld assent on July 26 , 2018 , which coincided with the day both chambers embarked on annual recess . He observed that the “ third bill supposed to be an addendum to the second one which had 41 amendments ,” adding that the “ third bill had 14 clauses and 15 citations aimed at strengthening the second amendment . He said , “ What we wanted in the third bill was to strengthen the second one which was to make INEC work easier , hence it did not include the card reader. “ What the Executive wanted is the merger of the second and third ones . So , we want to strengthen INEC and make sure the 2019 elections are free and fair. We have come up with the fourth version ” . It would be recalled that the first version of the bill forwarded to President Buhari in February this year by the federal lawmakers was rejected as a result of introduction of new sequence of election provided for in section 25 ( 1 ) of the bill . The president outrightly vetoed the second version forwarded to him in June after removal of the new sequence of election provisions . But while it seemed like some headway was being achieved, opposition political parties under the auspices of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) alleged plots by the APC – led federal government to attack the leadership of National Assembly next week. In a statement signed its spokesperson, Ikenga Ugochinyere, CUPP warned that such a plot , if actualised , will endanger the nation ’s democracy and push it closer to the edge of the cliff in preparation to finally push it over for total destruction. The coalition also alleged that the APC is poised to file a suit on controversial circumstances seeking for an ex – parte application directing that one third of the Senators /House members can demand to open either chambers of the National Assembly . It stated that the coalition have been informed that the plot also includes the Police inviting the leadership of the National Assembly just before the controversial ruling and their subsequent detention , with a black market injunction from a Magistrate Court , thereby paving way for the unlawful and violent change of the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives. Ugochinyere said some of the security agencies will also provide security cover for the coup , with a section of the media coopted to churn out news and justification for such evil plots. The statement reads in part In a swift reaction, the APC denied CUPP’s allegations of a planned attack on National Assembly leaders on their resumption from recess next week. Spokesman of the party , Yekini Nabena , in a counter statement noted that the allegations are a “last – ditch attempt ” to prevent the National Assembly from reconvening next week . “ Such crude practices are rejected templates of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) which the so – called ‘ Coalition’ represents and definitely alien to the progressive APC – led administration ” , Nabena stated . Specifically , the APC said it considered the new “rounds of falsehood by the sponsored Coalition as a last – ditch attempt by the outgoing and minority National Assembly leadership of the Senate President, Dr . Bukola Saraki ; his Deputy , Ike Ekweremadu and Speaker , House of Representatives , Yakubu Dogara to prevent the reconvening of the National Assembly and continue a minority -rule in an APC – dominated federal legislature . “ We are in a democracy and are governed by laws . A few cannot hold the legislative arm of government to ransom through their selfish political games. The National Assembly must be reconvened immediately to attend to crucial and pending legislative business . The majority must be allowed to lead ” , Nabena added.]]>