The-electoral-act-amendment-2018-is-it-for-national-interest-or-personal-interest
September 7, 2020 | News
THE ELECTORAL ACT AMENDMENT 2018 – IS IT FOR NATIONAL INTEREST OR PERSONAL INTEREST?
With President Muhammadu Buhari recent decline for the third time, of his assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018, alleging irregularities and draft issues, there have been accusations, counter-accusations and assumptions of all sort from both the Federal legislature and the executive, as well all stakeholders in the political front, as to why the said bill has not been able to see the light of day, especially with the fact that the 2019 general elections is just few months away. One begins to wonder what will become of the fate and eventual outcome of the 2019 general elections with this kind of interplay, flexing of muscles and somewhat confusion going on as regards the electoral act, which is intended to address the anomalies in the nation’s electoral process. With what is going on, one begins to wonder if the electoral act amendment is intended for national interest or for some personal interests of some sort?
Since the President’s latest decline to assent to the said electoral amendment bill 2018, on the one hand; critics believe that the President does not want credible elections in 2019. In fact, they claim that the President is afraid of allowing the law to recognize the use of Smart Card Reader for voter accreditation. Not even the explanation of clerical errors, inelegant drafting and cross-referencing issues in the bill as advanced by the President’s aide on legislative matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, are tenable to the members of the opposition. Even some political pundits asserted that exclusive electronic accreditation may be detrimental to the ruling APC, following allegations of underage voting and other forms of electoral fraud that marred the 2015 elections, especially in the North, as such, they are alleging that the President does not want a free and fair election.
While on the other hand, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity in a recent press statement, noted that: “The card reader is not in danger of being discarded. It is a sine qua non for credible elections. We appeal to the National Assembly to reconvene as soon as possible to consider and approve the necessary corrections to the amended Electoral Act.” However, in a recent write up by Mr. Jide Ojo, he made some disturbing revelations, though still subject to verification, concerning the issues of disagreement between the Federal lawmakers and the Presidency over this electoral act amendment saga. Ojo noted that “as against the version 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.” He asked in the piece: “Could you believe that the Smart Card Reader which was legalized by amendment to Section 49 of the previous amendment was not even mentioned in the current amendment? Yet, the critics who never read the bill are wrongfully accusing the President of not wanting the Independent National Electoral Commission to use the card reader.”
“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.
“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. In actual fact, only 13 sections of the current Electoral Act 2010 were amended in the bill sent to the President on August 3, 2018. Sections 1 and 15 are titles and citation of the bill. The main sections of the law that were amended are sections 18, 30, 34, 36, 38, 44, 51A, 63, 67, 76, 87, 112 and 151.
Section 91 addresses the limitations on election expenses. The following is the list of maximum limit on election expenses that can be incurred by candidates, according to the old and the proposed: Presidential election N1billion (Old)- N5billion (New); Governorship election M200m (Old)- N1bn (New); Senatorial Seat N40m (Old) -100m (New); Federal House of Representatives N20m (Old) - N70m (New); State Assembly N10m (Old) - N30m (New); Chairmanship election N10m - N30m; Councillorship N1m (Old) - N5m (New). Even 91(9) that prohibits any individual or entity from donating more than N1million has been amended to N10million. But looking at this, we are compelled to ask: Is this a ploy to make our political space an exclusive preserve of the money-bags? Or to make the anomaly of vote buying a permanent feature of our elections?
For Ojo, he concluded by saying that: “the President saved this country’s democracy by withholding assent to this badly drafted bill. I join all well-meaning compatriots to appeal to the National Assembly to cut short its annual recess to come and urgently address the issues raised by the President on this electoral amendment bill as well as approve the funding for the all-important 2019 general election.” And we couldn’t have agreed more with him on this issue.
Let us also note here that Section 63(4) of the “old” electoral act addresses the issue of counting of votes and forms. This subsection says the presiding officer should count and announce the result at the polling units. The amended version to this subsection strikes out COUNT and simply states that the presiding officer should announce the result. This obviously makes the process liable to manipulation. And the most vexed and suspect is Section 25, which addresses the days of election. The proposed version tinkers with the sequence of elections. The elections will now be from the national assembly to the state assembly, then governorship and presidential, and not the other way round. The unofficial word out there is that the President would abandon the lawmakers if he contested first. But if his election was the last, he would dance to their tunes till the very end. Knowing how bills are typically driven by personal interests in this part of the world, it's hard not to think the lawmakers' minds are working this way, and even harder not to think Buhari will never sign!
With everything that is going concerning this electoral amendment act 2018, one begins to wonder where is the interest and fate of the Nigerian electorates, whose prerogative right is to decide who should govern them, in all of this brouhaha? Are these politicians doing all of this really interested in fostering and entrenching the interest of the Nigerian people? Or are they just interested in putting in place an electoral act that would ensure them a smooth ride and guarantee their ascension to power? If the political atmosphere is already like this concerning the electoral amendment act, we can only imagine what will happen in the 2019 general elections.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
With President Muhammadu Buhari recent decline for the third time, of his assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018, alleging irregularities and draft issues, there have been accusations, counter-accusations and assumptions of all sort from both the Federal legislature and the executive, as well all stakeholders in the political front, as to why the said bill has not been able to see the light of day, especially with the fact that the 2019 general elections is just few months away. One begins to wonder what will become of the fate and eventual outcome of the 2019 general elections with this kind of interplay, flexing of muscles and somewhat confusion going on as regards the electoral act, which is intended to address the anomalies in the nation’s electoral process. With what is going on, one begins to wonder if the electoral act amendment is intended for national interest or for some personal interests of some sort?
Since the President’s latest decline to assent to the said electoral amendment bill 2018, on the one hand; critics believe that the President does not want credible elections in 2019. In fact, they claim that the President is afraid of allowing the law to recognize the use of Smart Card Reader for voter accreditation. Not even the explanation of clerical errors, inelegant drafting and cross-referencing issues in the bill as advanced by the President’s aide on legislative matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, are tenable to the members of the opposition. Even some political pundits asserted that exclusive electronic accreditation may be detrimental to the ruling APC, following allegations of underage voting and other forms of electoral fraud that marred the 2015 elections, especially in the North, as such, they are alleging that the President does not want a free and fair election.
While on the other hand, the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity in a recent press statement, noted that: “The card reader is not in danger of being discarded. It is a sine qua non for credible elections. We appeal to the National Assembly to reconvene as soon as possible to consider and approve the necessary corrections to the amended Electoral Act.” However, in a recent write up by Mr. Jide Ojo, he made some disturbing revelations, though still subject to verification, concerning the issues of disagreement between the Federal lawmakers and the Presidency over this electoral act amendment saga. Ojo noted that “as against the version 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.” He asked in the piece: “Could you believe that the Smart Card Reader which was legalized by amendment to Section 49 of the previous amendment was not even mentioned in the current amendment? Yet, the critics who never read the bill are wrongfully accusing the President of not wanting the Independent National Electoral Commission to use the card reader.”
“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.
“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. In actual fact, only 13 sections of the current Electoral Act 2010 were amended in the bill sent to the President on August 3, 2018. Sections 1 and 15 are titles and citation of the bill. The main sections of the law that were amended are sections 18, 30, 34, 36, 38, 44, 51A, 63, 67, 76, 87, 112 and 151.
Section 91 addresses the limitations on election expenses. The following is the list of maximum limit on election expenses that can be incurred by candidates, according to the old and the proposed: Presidential election N1billion (Old)- N5billion (New); Governorship election M200m (Old)- N1bn (New); Senatorial Seat N40m (Old) -100m (New); Federal House of Representatives N20m (Old) - N70m (New); State Assembly N10m (Old) - N30m (New); Chairmanship election N10m - N30m; Councillorship N1m (Old) - N5m (New). Even 91(9) that prohibits any individual or entity from donating more than N1million has been amended to N10million. But looking at this, we are compelled to ask: Is this a ploy to make our political space an exclusive preserve of the money-bags? Or to make the anomaly of vote buying a permanent feature of our elections?
For Ojo, he concluded by saying that: “the President saved this country’s democracy by withholding assent to this badly drafted bill. I join all well-meaning compatriots to appeal to the National Assembly to cut short its annual recess to come and urgently address the issues raised by the President on this electoral amendment bill as well as approve the funding for the all-important 2019 general election.” And we couldn’t have agreed more with him on this issue.
Let us also note here that Section 63(4) of the “old” electoral act addresses the issue of counting of votes and forms. This subsection says the presiding officer should count and announce the result at the polling units. The amended version to this subsection strikes out COUNT and simply states that the presiding officer should announce the result. This obviously makes the process liable to manipulation. And the most vexed and suspect is Section 25, which addresses the days of election. The proposed version tinkers with the sequence of elections. The elections will now be from the national assembly to the state assembly, then governorship and presidential, and not the other way round. The unofficial word out there is that the President would abandon the lawmakers if he contested first. But if his election was the last, he would dance to their tunes till the very end. Knowing how bills are typically driven by personal interests in this part of the world, it's hard not to think the lawmakers' minds are working this way, and even harder not to think Buhari will never sign!
With everything that is going concerning this electoral amendment act 2018, one begins to wonder where is the interest and fate of the Nigerian electorates, whose prerogative right is to decide who should govern them, in all of this brouhaha? Are these politicians doing all of this really interested in fostering and entrenching the interest of the Nigerian people? Or are they just interested in putting in place an electoral act that would ensure them a smooth ride and guarantee their ascension to power? If the political atmosphere is already like this concerning the electoral amendment act, we can only imagine what will happen in the 2019 general elections.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes