Electoral Law: As Buhari Acquits Self, Nigerians Await INEC, Others

IN THE ARENA

Now that President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the landmark Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, the ball is in the court of the Independent National Electoral Commission, judiciary, politicians and support agencies to play by the rules to deliver free and fair elections in 2023, Louis Achi writes

The integrity of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and sustenance of her political stability fundamentally rely on viable electoral governance laws. It’s against this backdrop that the signing into law of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari represents a key milestone of his almost eight-year tenure.

The president assented to the bill on Friday, at a brief ceremony held at the Council Chamber of the Aso Villa in Abuja. The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, were all present to witness the ceremony.

The signing of the bill came barely a week to the expiration of the window the president had to take a decision on the proposed legislation, as required by the Nigerian Constitution.

Speaking during the event, an obviously elated Buhari declared: “It is gratifying to note that the current Bill comes with a great deal of improvement from the previous Electoral Bill 2021. There are salient and praiseworthy provisions that could positively revolutionise elections in Nigeria through the introduction of new technological innovations. These innovations would guarantee the constitutional rights of citizens to vote and to do so effectively.

“The Bill would also improve and engender clarity, effectiveness and transparency of the election process, as well as reduce to the barest minimum incidences of acrimony arising from dissatisfied candidates and political parties.

“These commendable efforts are in line with our policy to bequeath posterity and landmark legal framework that paves the way for credible and sound electoral process that we would all be proud of.”

Though the reformation of Nigeria’s electoral system is not really a new project, its necessity has been significantly accentuated by certain developments since the Fourth Republic was birthed in 1999. The fact that the majority of poll results since the nation returned to civil rule 22 years ago cannot be said to have reflected the wishes of the majority makes electoral governance reforms imperative.

This imperative applies equally to both the upstream arena which addresses legislative modifications and the downstream which focuses on judicial interpretation of the laws.

It would be recalled that President Buhari withheld appending his signature to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2021, because the National Assembly had prescribed direct primaries as the only process of producing candidates for general election. Many stakeholders had strongly felt that if the federal legislative body had acted from a position of strong conviction, it could have constitutionally vetoed the president and passed the amended bill into law. Apparently, it did not.

Before signing the bill under reference into law, the president had sought an amendment by asking the National Assembly to delete Clause 84(12). The clause reads, “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”

According to Buhari, the clause constituted disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at conventions or congresses of any political party, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the national election.

The section, he said, had introduced qualification and disqualification criteria that breached the constitution by way of importing blanket restriction and disqualification to serving political office holders of which they are constitutionally accorded protection.

His words: “The practical application of section 84(12) of the Electoral Bill, 2022 will, if assented to, by operation of law, subject serving political office holders to inhibitions and restrictions referred to under section 40 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution.

“It is imperative to note that the only constitutional expectation placed on serving political office holders that qualify, by extension as public officers within the context of the constitution is resignation, withdrawal or retirement at least 30 days before the date of the election.

“It will be stretching things beyond the constitutional limit to import extraneous restriction into the constitution on account of the practical application of section 84(12) of the bill where political parties’ conventions and congresses were to hold earlier than 30 days to the election.”

The federal lawmakers in January, had to transmit the reworked version of the bill to the president for assent, after he had rejected it five times – citing the high cost of election, insecurity, drafting errors and proximity to the date of elections.

With the bill becoming active law, all attention has now shifted to the nation’s electoral management agency, the INEC, to do the needful going forward. All the restrictions and legal hitches that hitherto hobbled its operations are largely cleared.

It’s then little wonder that former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has described the presidential assent as a quantum leap for the nation’s democracy. According to him, “Certainly, we didn’t get all we pushed for in the new law, but it is nevertheless a quantum leap for our electoral system and I congratulate all, who played a part in it.

“With the electronic transmission of election results, early primary elections, and adequate time for INEC to prepare for elections, among other breakthroughs, our elections will never be the same again and more Nigerians will be encouraged to exercise their franchise, knowing that their votes will now count.”

Nigerians expect politicians, the judiciary, relevant security agencies, the media, civil society and others to give appropriate life to the new electoral management law by rising above board and supporting genuine efforts to ensure the credibility of the nation’s polls going forward.