Electoral Act Amendments: Why politicians are jittery

With all the processes regarding the amendment of the country’s electoral Act already concluded by the National Assembly now awaiting President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent into law, it appears some political actors across major political parties are kicking against the Bill particularly on issues bothering on the adoption of direct primaries by political parties and electronic mode of transmission of election results by INEC in the next general elections.                                   

IT would be recalled; the National Assembly had on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, passed the much anticipated Electoral Act Bill 2021 after both the Senate and the House of Representatives had deliberated on the report of the Conference Committee on the Bill and went further to pass the harmonized version of the Electoral Act 2021.

Briefing journalists after plenary, the Chairman House Committee on Telecommunications, Akeem Adeyemi, who had earlier laid the report for consideration in the Committee of the Whole, said the National Assembly was done with the bill and that the next phase of the process now lays within the purview of the President for his assent.

However, the bill seem to be sending jitters down the spine of some politicians who consider such as a move to scuttle their ambition in the next general elections. According to Moses  Chongs, a  political commentator based in Jos who told SUNDAY STANDARD that; “The Senate version of the amendment of the Electoral Act is most likely going to cause a lot of crisis in some of the political parties, particularly the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] as well as the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC]. This is because the major bone of contention is the direct primaries which boils down to personal interests and by extension, geo-political interests especially at the Presidential, Governorship and National Assembly primaries,’’ Chongs said.

The Senate had on October 13, 2021, re-amended certain parts of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill contained in clauses 43, 52, 63 and 87 respectively. In a chat with SUNDAY STANDARD, a legal practitioner, Barrister Barau Isiaku, said; ‘’the clause that could be a source of worry to most of these political parties is; clause 52 which makes provision for Electronic Transmission of Election Results [ETR]. Although the National Assembly now empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] to use its discretion of the most suitable mode, the politicians themselves in most cases prefer to win election by crook or hook. Therefore, those who prefer to rig their way to certain positions may not find the electronic mode of transmission palatable, Isiaku noted.

On the nomination of candidates by political parties as contained in clause 87 of the Bill, the National Assembly also adopted the direct primary instead of the indirect mode. This is also seen by some political observers as one area that may likely bring conflict of interest among party stalwarts against some powerful blocs within each of the geo-political zone of the country.

The ruling APC which is yet to conduct its National Convention is already in a dilemma with the latest  Amendment of the Electoral Act particularly as it concerns the direct primaries. SUNDAY STANDARD sources indicate that the APC is kicking against what it referred to as; ‘’a forceful decision’’ by the National Assembly on the political parties. As part of their resolutions at the end of their meeting held on Monday, November 8, 2021, in Abuja, the Governors of the APC stated that in the countdown to the 2019 general elections, the leadership of the APC had adopted direct primary option in most of the states of the federation and same method for the Presidential Primary election was used.

Speaking after the meeting, Kebbi State governor and Chairman of Progressives Governor’s Forum, [PGF], Atiku Bagudu, said his colleagues picked holes in the decision of the National Assembly with regard to the direct primary. According to him, political parties are self-administering voluntary organizations that should be free to adopt any method to choose candidates.

Bagudu added that the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC], could be overstretched if it was saddled with supervising direct primaries of all political parties. Noting; ‘’we discussed the pros and cons [direct primary]. There has been concern that political parties are voluntary organizations. We expressed the concern that political parties be allowed to choose from the options that they so desire.’’

However, John Akawu, who also spoke with SUNDAY STANDARD, wonder, why some politicians should be kicking against direct primary as contained in the Bill by the lawmakers. “As a politician, if you think you are popular with the masses, why should you be afraid of which method the law stipulates? Perhaps there is something hidden that we don’t know which the political parties need to tell us as electorate,’’ Akawu opined.

Meanwhile, in line with customary legislative procedures, the two chambers had in September this year, set-up Conference Committees to reconcile disparity in the versions of the bill as passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. It was as a result of that, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, on October 13,2021, constituted a seven-man Conference Committee with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to harmonize the differences in the Senate and House versions of the bill which was chaired by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, APC, Kebbi North.

SUNDAY STANDARD also gathered that the PDP and other smaller political parties have also criticized the APC  led Government for coming up with such a bill particularly on the direct primary clause in the Amendment Act of the Electoral process which they claim was being  forced into the throat of other political parties.

But the House of Representatives Spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, said the passage of the Bill was a memorable day for the National Assembly as it had successfully passed the bill into law. In his remarks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said; ‘’We must all agree that the Electoral Act is something we need to wave running behind right now. Nigerians have been asking for this day since June.’’

According to Jibrin Ibrahimin,   an earlier report this year in the PREMIUM TIMES, had raised concerns over the plan by the ruling APC to cajole the opposition legislators and governors to abandon their parties and join the ruling party. ”The most disturbing aspect of the bill earlier submitted by INEC, was the reported doctoring of the document to eliminate the electronic transmission of results’ It became a huge issue because we know the tradition of election rigging in Nigeria where votes would be counted and  declared openly in polling units in front of voters, who would go home happy. Subsequently, the numbers would be changed at the point of collation and the outcome would be decided by riggers. ‘’

“Other areas of concern in the bill are the significant increases on the limits on campaign expenses for the Presidential election to have been increased from N1bn to N15 bn, the governorship election from N200mn to N5bn, House of Representatives from N30 mn to N500mn, Senate poll, from N40mn to N1.5bn while that of the state House of Assembly is from N10mn to N50mn. The intentions are clear that only the super- rich can contest for elections in this country.

‘’We should not forget that the last attempt to review the Electoral Act was rejected three times by the President. Therefore, if some of changes we are seeking are not accepted by the President means the bill now being passed into law by the National Assembly might not be assented to.’’ Ibrahim further stressed.

Emameh Gabriel also in his commentary over the furore on the Electoral Act said the clamour from key political stakeholders and the informed public is putting so much pressure on the government to address head on, an election challenge which has brought needless setbacks across the country including human casualties.

He also observed that the sanctity of the ballot, credibility of the electoral process and the integrity of INEC officials, have constantly come under intense debate since the return of democracy in 1999.

However, the President’s refusal to assent to previous bills on the Electoral Amendment was based on reasons by the Presidency citing ‘draft issues’ while some commentators see such as signs that the APC is afraid of a free and fair election.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said the 2023 General Elections would record significant reduction in electoral violence after the passage of the just amended Electoral Act. He said the Act will provide for an Electoral Offences Commission, saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders.

He also noted that the Electoral Amendment Bill, would among other things, empower the Independent Electoral Commission, [INEC] to conduct transparent elections in Nigeria. ‘’ Let me give some commendation to the National Assembly for continuously working on the Electoral Act to provide for a better electoral environment in Nigeria.

‘’All the improvements we have added was as a result of legislation passed by the National Assembly  with  the support of the Executive. Our intention in the National Assembly is to further sanitise the electoral environment, empower the election management body to conduct seamless, transparent and very open sort of election where a winner is very happy that he is the winner and the loser will be glad he lost in a fair contest. So we hope that the 2023 general elections will see less of electoral violence because the law would have been further improved,’’ Lawan said. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission [INEC] ,Prof. Mahmud Yakubu had urged that the manual collation and transmission of election results cumbersome while also highlighting the importance of deploying modern technology in a process that is  expensive.

Although critics had argued on some of the clauses contained in the Amended bill, there are areas of concern especially section 50[2] of the Bill which a coalition of activists and Civil Society Organizations are objecting to it. The group said in a joint statement in Abuja recently that section 50[2] of the bill undermines the efforts of INEC to conduct free and fair elections.

As the nation awaits the much anticipated assent on the Electoral Act by President Muhammadu Buhari, the clock is ticking while many are wondering whether history will repeat itself or not.