LANRE ADEWOLE periscopes the diverse issues plaguing Nigeria’s quest for transparent elections.
After multiple rejection of amendments to the Electoral Act meant to engender greater integrity in the electoral process, with the latest being weeks back, President Muhammadu Buhari is now largely seen in many quarters as breaking his campaign promise to strengthen the country’s democracy and electioneering process.
The obvious inadequacy of the National Assembly to override his veto has further dampened the morale of stakeholders and Nigerians, bidding for a more participatory democracy and elections where all votes count. During the Eighth National Assembly under the chairmanship of Senator Bukola Saraki, the main excuse the president gave for declining assent was that if signed into law and deployed for the 2019 poll in which he was a candidate seeking a second term in office, the application of the introduced measures, set to achieve more transparency in elections, especially in the area of voter’s identification and real-time result collation, would cause massive disruption to the poll.
The president reasoned the reviewed election laws came a little too close to the 2019 poll, which controversially returned him for a second term. He dumped all the amendments made to the Electoral Act, including those considered to be sine qua non to acceptable poll.
President Buhari received a lot of sticks then, just as he is receiving now, over his perceived lack of commitment to the promise he made to tinker with the electoral process in a way that votes would count to the extent of having truly “elected” public officer holders, going forward. The opposition parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have not stopped rebuking the president for what is termed “political decision” to favour his governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in future elections by retaining the perceived loopholes in the extant Electoral Act, which opposition and civil society community argued are easy to manipulate, for the party in power.
The latest rejection of the amendment to the Electoral Act due to the inclusion of direct primary mode by the National Assembly, rankled non-partisan election-integrity campaigners so much that they took turns to knock the president, who tried to convince Nigerians through his Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, and his media handlers of his genuineness of purpose, in withholding his signature.
While the party primary mode was the main reason given by the administration for Buhari’s rejection of the entire amended bill, there have been allegations that what the governing administration was actually running away from is the inclusion of electronic transmission of results, which if signed into law, would greatly reduced figure manipulation, by guaranteeing real-time result collation, giving Nigerians first-hand opportunity to monitor collation of results.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which employed the real-time electronic voting and result collation during its election that brought in the current leadership, couldn’t hide its displeasure at the latest rejection of the amended election rules by the president.
In a storm of criticism, which also saw constitutional lawyers, Olisa Agbakoba and Femi Falana, both SAN, tackle the president and the National Assembly, NBA President Mr Olumide Akpata accused the president of lacking in good faith.
According to him, “We received the unfortunate, but unsurprising news of the decision of President Buhari to decline assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021. We join other civil society groups and well-meaning Nigerians in expressing our discontent with the manner of the exercise of the president’s veto.
“We are not convinced that, in the circumstance, the president demonstrated good faith in the exercise of his veto powers. Waiting until after expiration of the 30 days, and even taking advantage of an additional day under the Interpretation Act while the entire nation waited with bated breath, only to communicate a veto, is not consistent with the conduct of a partner in the quest for the needed reform of the country’s electoral process, which should ordinarily be a cardinal point of the president’s agenda, and more fittingly, legacy.
“Further, in view of Buhari’s personal experiences with the inadequacies of our electoral process, and having repeatedly pledged to strengthen the electoral process, not just in Nigeria, but also across the West African sub-region, the NBA expected more from the president. We fail to see how the above actions contribute to strengthening the electoral process.
“In the circumstance, the credibility of the Ninth National Assembly is on the line, and the ball is now firmly in their proverbial court to rise to the occasion, and either take the historic decision to override the president’s veto or immediately take the necessary legislative steps to effect any necessary changes and return the Bill to the president for reconsideration. Otherwise, the National Assembly risks lending credence to the rumours in some corners that the provisions relating to direct primaries were inserted into the Bill to provide a leeway for the eventual rejection of the Bill.
“With less than 14 months before the next general election, the NBA calls on the National Assembly to act right and timeously before it is too late.”
Off-cycle doubts?
With the National Assembly now on the spot, over the allegation of possible collusion with the presidency to deny Nigerians the opportunity of credible polls, the assurance given by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila that the National Assembly would review the president’s objection and re-tinker with the amended bill to present again for presidential assent is coming to most stakeholders as a mixed bag.
“When we return in the New Year, we will resume our efforts to reform the electoral system in our country. And we will do it together. That is what the Nigerian people expect of us, and we will do our duty for God and country.
“Whichever way it pans out, we must not throw out the baby with the bathwater and must deliver a credible and enduring electoral system to Nigerians. Every law is a living document and as long as it has breath, it must survive,” he said.
As encouraging as the number four citizen sounded, recent precedent doesn’t make his statement assuring. Before the president’s veto, the same Gbajabiamila had assured the nation that he had the words of the president that the Bill would be passed. That never happened.
The nation has also almost agreed that the National Assembly should expunge the direct primary provision and return the Bill to the president with electronic transmission of results still intact.
The question is if the president would still sign the reviewed version, without coming up with the same excuse of pre-2019 poll, that the Bill is coming too late in the day, for deployment for the 2023 polls.
Already, the initial hope that the amended electoral Bill could be used for the off-cycle gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun States as pilot projects is practically dashed, with the president’s veto and the inability of the federal lawmakers to override it.
National Financial Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Kunle Edun, who is the immediate spokesperson of the lawyers’ body, believed the integrity of the off-cycle elections is already in doubt.
He told Sunday Tribune that, “The integrity of the off-cycle elections in Ekiti and Osun states and the 2023 elections would be an issue because of the refusal of the president to assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021. It is now a record five times that the president has withheld his assent on such bill. This speaks a lot.
“If President Goodluck Jonathan had not assented to the Electoral Act amendment bill that made the card reader possible, APC would have had no chance to be in power at the centre. There are many laudable items in the extant Bill that will radically improve our electoral system and voters’ confidence.
“Electronic transmission of results is one of the critical items. As the Nigerian Bar Association has already stated, the National Assembly should either remove the direct primary provision and send the bill back to the president for Assent or go ahead and override the president’s Assent. I hope that for once, the present National Assembly would do the right thing.
“Failure to do either, by the National Assembly, the credibility of future elections will continue to be challenged. For the first time in Nigeria, the people of Nigeria have the real opportunity to choose their leaders if the proposed Bill is assented. The country has given so much to President Buhari and I hope that he would not waste this one more opportunity to disabuse the minds of Nigerians that he does not believe in democracy” he reasoned.
For Senior Advocate, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, the governing APC must be up to something sinister for Ekiti and Osun if a revised version of the Bill isn’t passed soon.
“It would seem that the present administration has reneged on its promise to Nigerians on electoral reforms, leading to a loss of focus, he told Sunday Tribune, adding that “the government is no longer pursuing the democratic ideals that help to move a nation forward.”
He wants the amendments settled before the off-cycle poll.
He noted, “Without ensuring an amendment of the present Electoral Act, the ruling party is only giving notice to Nigerians of its intention to manipulate the Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections. It will be good to first amend the Electoral Act before these elections take place in order to eliminate the fault lines that have plagued our experiences during major elections. My appeal therefore is to the Buhari regime to expedite action on the amendment of the Electoral Act.”
Femi Olutunde, an Abuja-based practitioner, says it is what it is, if the amendment isn’t included before Osun and Ekiti elections.
“The extant Act will have to be used, except the President signs the amended version into law or the National Assembly overrides him.”
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