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Nigeria- A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) nationwide survey on various issues hinged on INEC’s build-up to the conduct of successful polls, recorded series of mixed feelings on the delay in the passage of the 2010 (further amendment) Electoral Act in particular.
The stakeholders, including political party leaders, lawmakers, legal practitioners, election monitors and civil society organisations, expressed divergent views on the absence of special tribunal to try electoral offenders and enforcement of guidelines.
While many of the stakeholders said the delay by the National Assembly to pass the act would cause setback to INEC efforts, others belived that the electoral body could rely on the existing law in 2015 because the new act might not eventually take effect immediately.
INEC’s proposal and approval by NASS to request for deployment of military personnel for elections received the disapproval of the political class, legal practitioners and some civil society organisations.
A cross section of the stakeholders took critical look at the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards and the Continuous Voter Registration, concluding that incidents of mix-up and missing cards did not help matters.
Respondents criticised non implementation of reports by election observers, saying they did not contribute positive impact to the conduct of subsequent elections in the country.
Reactions
A lecturer in the Department of Political Science in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Malam Musa Usman, said the reports of such observers had remained unimplemented.
He said that INEC was facing serious challenges in prosecuting the offenders because they were being sponsored by top politicians.
A lawyer, Mr. John Danasabe, said that the nation was passing through difficult time as INEC would not have the capacity to punish offenders.
Mr Richard Tiebiri, a Political Analyst and Assistant Legal Adviser, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa, said: “I must tell you, about 30 per cent of eligible Nigerians are yet to receive their voter cards; I urge INEC to find lasting solution to such ugly trend.’’
In Edo, stakeholders expressed the opinion that election tribunals would help reduce rigging and fast-track quick dispensation of justice on electoral malpractices.
Rep. Akpodiogaga Emeyese expressed the belief that setting up of such tribunal was long overdue.
The Political Adviser to Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, Chief Fred Majemite, expressed similar views, saying that INEC could only petition but did not have the power of arrest and prosecution in the current dispensation.
He said INEC’s reliance on police and other law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute electoral offenders had not made their job easy on the commission’s effort to curb electoral malpractices.
“Hearing of such cases in the conventional courts delays the dispensation of justice.''
For Danladi Ibrahim, a public commentator in Yola, INEC is weak in implementing the election guidelines.
``You see posters, bill boards and you hear and see media campaigns telling you to vote for this man or that woman going on in our media ahead of the campaign period," he said.
Delay of Electoral Act
On the delay in the passage of Electoral Act, many respondents in Adamawa said it was not too late for now.
" It can be passed a month to the election; as you know there wasn't any much amendment in the act," Ibrahim said.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Ondo State chapter Publicity Secretary, Mr Abayomi Adesanya, also expressed concern on the need for INEC to enforce guidelines towards the 2015 elections.
"We hope they will start to enforce their own guidelines because a political party has been flouting these guidelines and there has been no penalty for doing so.
A Calabar-based legal practitioner, Mr Utum Eteng, expressed fears that INEC might be in a dilemma over the conduct of the polls because of the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act.
Latest Development on Passage of Electoral Act
NAN findings showed that NASS recently harmonised the amendments to the act but was yet to transmit the document to the executive for assent.
Eteng, however, said that INEC could still use the old law to conduct the 2015 election.
In Benue, stakeholders rejected the deployment of soldiers to monitor the elections.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Makurdi branch, said it was partnering with INEC to prosecute electoral offenders during the conduct of 2015 elections in the state.
Its Vice chairman, Mr. Titus Hyundu, said the association had agreed to support the conduct of credible elections by identifying electoral defaulters and getting them arrested.
" If there is any challenge at all, it should be administrative; maybe there is not enough finance to pay the lawyers but legally speaking, there is no challenge with INEC prosecuting offenders," Hyundu said.
INEC's View
However, an INEC Director, Mrs. Rose Mangkam, shared a contrary view, blaming the government for not implementing the Justice Mohammed Uwais report on Electoral Reform which suggested the creation of a commission for INEC to handle electoral offences.
According to Mangkam, the wholesale implementation of the report will enable INEC to have it's own lawyers who will undertake investigation of offenders and prosecute them.
More Reactions
A lawmaker, Mr Dave Iorhemba, said INECs proposal for the deployment of soldiers to monitor the elections, already approved, would undermine the gains of the country's democracy.
The former speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, said the constitution was unambiguous over whose duties it was to maintain internal security and wondered the reasons for such proposals.
"Let not our electoral process be seen as a war path; I am totally against the militarisation of the process."
In Gombe State, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Sullaiman Hassan, accused lawmakers at the NASS of stalling the passage of the bill on Electoral Act for selfish interest.
"They will make sure the bill is not passed so that they will continue with the practices that brought them in to power," he said.
In Ebonyi, stakeholders said that issues of effective enforcement of guidelines and time table by INEC and delay in passing the electoral act would pose serious challenges to the conduct of the elections.
Chief Samuel Okobe, Secretary of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abakaliki, doubted the ability of INEC to effectively enforce the guidelines and time table.
"The incessant crises rocking several political parties as a result of factionalisation of leadership might affect the timely nomination of candidates to fly their flags at the polls.’’
Mrs Chinwe Iroha, a Civil Liberties Organistion (CLO) member, decried the proposed deployment of the military by INEC, for the elections.
"This is a brazen violation of the peoples' rights and an indictment on the police capability to discharge their duties.’’
On the proposal for independent candidates, he said: "An independent candidate would not be under any form of pressure from anyone, as it was only when this provision is made, that the country would produce good leaders."
But stakeholders in Lagos State, particularly party leaders, lawmakers and civil societies identified lack of regulation of sale of nomination forms, 90-day campaign period and poor enforcement as some shortcomings of INEC guidelines.
The National Secretary of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr Ayodele Akele, said that INEC must regulate the sale of nomination forms by parties.
He said that the cost of the forms made it difficult for an average Nigerian with leadership qualities to contest for election.
Akele said that the 90-day period which INEC provided for electioneering campaigns was not enough.
He said that there was the need for the electorate to have enough time to listen to manifestos and know candidates better to be able to choose wisely.
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, a human rights activist and President of Women Arise - an NGO - said that adequate funding of INEC would be critical to the success of the 2015 polls.
``I am hoping that the recommendations of the National Conference which, I am a member of, would have been adopted before the 2015 general elections," she added.
There. You've had it. What do you think? What's your own opinion?
#INEC #Nigeria #Jega #2015
The stakeholders, including political party leaders, lawmakers, legal practitioners, election monitors and civil society organisations, expressed divergent views on the absence of special tribunal to try electoral offenders and enforcement of guidelines.
While many of the stakeholders said the delay by the National Assembly to pass the act would cause setback to INEC efforts, others belived that the electoral body could rely on the existing law in 2015 because the new act might not eventually take effect immediately.
INEC’s proposal and approval by NASS to request for deployment of military personnel for elections received the disapproval of the political class, legal practitioners and some civil society organisations.
A cross section of the stakeholders took critical look at the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards and the Continuous Voter Registration, concluding that incidents of mix-up and missing cards did not help matters.
Respondents criticised non implementation of reports by election observers, saying they did not contribute positive impact to the conduct of subsequent elections in the country.
Reactions
A lecturer in the Department of Political Science in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Malam Musa Usman, said the reports of such observers had remained unimplemented.
He said that INEC was facing serious challenges in prosecuting the offenders because they were being sponsored by top politicians.
A lawyer, Mr. John Danasabe, said that the nation was passing through difficult time as INEC would not have the capacity to punish offenders.
Mr Richard Tiebiri, a Political Analyst and Assistant Legal Adviser, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa, said: “I must tell you, about 30 per cent of eligible Nigerians are yet to receive their voter cards; I urge INEC to find lasting solution to such ugly trend.’’
In Edo, stakeholders expressed the opinion that election tribunals would help reduce rigging and fast-track quick dispensation of justice on electoral malpractices.
Rep. Akpodiogaga Emeyese expressed the belief that setting up of such tribunal was long overdue.
The Political Adviser to Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, Chief Fred Majemite, expressed similar views, saying that INEC could only petition but did not have the power of arrest and prosecution in the current dispensation.
He said INEC’s reliance on police and other law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute electoral offenders had not made their job easy on the commission’s effort to curb electoral malpractices.
“Hearing of such cases in the conventional courts delays the dispensation of justice.''
For Danladi Ibrahim, a public commentator in Yola, INEC is weak in implementing the election guidelines.
``You see posters, bill boards and you hear and see media campaigns telling you to vote for this man or that woman going on in our media ahead of the campaign period," he said.
Delay of Electoral Act
On the delay in the passage of Electoral Act, many respondents in Adamawa said it was not too late for now.
" It can be passed a month to the election; as you know there wasn't any much amendment in the act," Ibrahim said.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Ondo State chapter Publicity Secretary, Mr Abayomi Adesanya, also expressed concern on the need for INEC to enforce guidelines towards the 2015 elections.
"We hope they will start to enforce their own guidelines because a political party has been flouting these guidelines and there has been no penalty for doing so.
A Calabar-based legal practitioner, Mr Utum Eteng, expressed fears that INEC might be in a dilemma over the conduct of the polls because of the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act.
Latest Development on Passage of Electoral Act
NAN findings showed that NASS recently harmonised the amendments to the act but was yet to transmit the document to the executive for assent.
Eteng, however, said that INEC could still use the old law to conduct the 2015 election.
In Benue, stakeholders rejected the deployment of soldiers to monitor the elections.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Makurdi branch, said it was partnering with INEC to prosecute electoral offenders during the conduct of 2015 elections in the state.
Its Vice chairman, Mr. Titus Hyundu, said the association had agreed to support the conduct of credible elections by identifying electoral defaulters and getting them arrested.
" If there is any challenge at all, it should be administrative; maybe there is not enough finance to pay the lawyers but legally speaking, there is no challenge with INEC prosecuting offenders," Hyundu said.
INEC's View
However, an INEC Director, Mrs. Rose Mangkam, shared a contrary view, blaming the government for not implementing the Justice Mohammed Uwais report on Electoral Reform which suggested the creation of a commission for INEC to handle electoral offences.
According to Mangkam, the wholesale implementation of the report will enable INEC to have it's own lawyers who will undertake investigation of offenders and prosecute them.
More Reactions
A lawmaker, Mr Dave Iorhemba, said INECs proposal for the deployment of soldiers to monitor the elections, already approved, would undermine the gains of the country's democracy.
The former speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, said the constitution was unambiguous over whose duties it was to maintain internal security and wondered the reasons for such proposals.
"Let not our electoral process be seen as a war path; I am totally against the militarisation of the process."
In Gombe State, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mallam Sullaiman Hassan, accused lawmakers at the NASS of stalling the passage of the bill on Electoral Act for selfish interest.
"They will make sure the bill is not passed so that they will continue with the practices that brought them in to power," he said.
In Ebonyi, stakeholders said that issues of effective enforcement of guidelines and time table by INEC and delay in passing the electoral act would pose serious challenges to the conduct of the elections.
Chief Samuel Okobe, Secretary of a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abakaliki, doubted the ability of INEC to effectively enforce the guidelines and time table.
"The incessant crises rocking several political parties as a result of factionalisation of leadership might affect the timely nomination of candidates to fly their flags at the polls.’’
Mrs Chinwe Iroha, a Civil Liberties Organistion (CLO) member, decried the proposed deployment of the military by INEC, for the elections.
"This is a brazen violation of the peoples' rights and an indictment on the police capability to discharge their duties.’’
On the proposal for independent candidates, he said: "An independent candidate would not be under any form of pressure from anyone, as it was only when this provision is made, that the country would produce good leaders."
But stakeholders in Lagos State, particularly party leaders, lawmakers and civil societies identified lack of regulation of sale of nomination forms, 90-day campaign period and poor enforcement as some shortcomings of INEC guidelines.
The National Secretary of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Mr Ayodele Akele, said that INEC must regulate the sale of nomination forms by parties.
He said that the cost of the forms made it difficult for an average Nigerian with leadership qualities to contest for election.
Akele said that the 90-day period which INEC provided for electioneering campaigns was not enough.
He said that there was the need for the electorate to have enough time to listen to manifestos and know candidates better to be able to choose wisely.
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, a human rights activist and President of Women Arise - an NGO - said that adequate funding of INEC would be critical to the success of the 2015 polls.
``I am hoping that the recommendations of the National Conference which, I am a member of, would have been adopted before the 2015 general elections," she added.
There. You've had it. What do you think? What's your own opinion?
#INEC #Nigeria #Jega #2015