THE just concluded week saw the Presidency coming up with three bills which it said are targeted at electoral reforms. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, made the announcement after the Federal Executive Council meeting of last week. It came days after the Presidency had vetoed for the third time the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2018 and therein lies the huge puzzle.
The questions that came to mind include: why would the Presidency send fresh electoral amendment bills to the National Assembly after ignoring such efforts by the National Assembly on three successive occasions and at the twilight of the administration? Why would the government send in electoral reform bills at less than six months to the elections? Why did the government stand by to watch the National Assembly go through the process of passing the bill starting from 2016 to 2018 only to veto the same thrice despite NASS bending backwards? Is the administration of President Buhari really interested in electoral reforms? One more question is this: Why would a government that was helped into office by electoral reforms loathe further reforms of the electoral process?
Going by the postulations out there, insiders in the administration have been seen as projecting that only a repeat of the 2015 election scenario would guarantee Buhari a return to Aso Rock.
The 2015 scenario ensured that the electoral law worked differently in the geopolitical zones of the country. While states in the North started using incident forms early in the day, in the face of overtly malfunctioning Card Reader, states in the South did not get the information to use same until very late in the day. The result was the massive voter turn-out in states of the North and stunted votes cast from the Southern states.
Perhaps to give life to the postulations, the Presidency did not make any meaningful contribution to the Electoral Act Amendment bill 2018 while it was being processed. The presidency and its officials watched as the bill progressed from Senate to the House of Representatives with the attendant back and forth. And when the bill was first submitted in February, it was rejected for the sake of order of elections. Again, in June when the National Assembly reworked the bill and submitted same for assent, the President did not make any returns within the constitutionally allowed 30 days. And when the bill was resubmitted on August 2, the President came up with claims that there were “drafting issues” and attempts to curtail the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Besides, what appears some insider manipulations, some stakeholders have also been openly boasting of delivering millions of votes to the President in 2019.
To me, the excuses contained in the letter vetoing the latest Electoral Act Amendment bill 2018 forwarded to the National Assembly on August 30 were more or less afterthoughts which confirm the insinuations that the Presidency has something against electoral reforms.
It’s like the usual belief that pervades human existence, which makes it difficult to adapt to change and as they say in football, why change a winning team. ‘If a particular measure had worked for you, why alter it.’ That looks more like the cause of the rigmarole we are seeing from the presidency on this matter.
But the same Presidency has not launched three electoral reform bills and ordered the same sent to the National Assembly for passage. That looks more like hoodwinking the unsuspecting and a make belief at electoral reforms. A simple glance would reveal this as an exercise almost in futility.
First the life of the 8th Senate is running to an end. Second, we are close to the 2019 elections and almost all members of the Assembly are partakers. Attendance at legislative sessions will dwindle seriously from now on owing to campaigns and election activities. The level of concentration of the lawmakers would also remain at the lowest from October as most of them had to face re-election issues in their constituencies. The time is not there. Again, when will the said reforms come into effect, even if passed miraculously? In the life of this administration or afterward? The same government is aware of the ECOWAS convention which frowns at introducing new electoral laws six months to elections.
The processes so far enumerated have already indicated a sort of tardiness in handling of the proposed electoral reforms. And if this persists, there would appear some credible fears for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in 2019.
One thing that sits at the background of all the observed tardiness is a lack of appreciation of the true intendment of the principles of separation of powers, which in practical operation truly means interrelationships of powers (a rub my back I rub yours approach) rather than the ‘do your own I do my own’ posture of this government.
If the government of the day wants electoral reforms, what is difficult in legalising the Card Reader; solving the Kogi scenario of 2015, when a leading candidate dies in the middle of an election; prescribing strict penalties for electoral offenders including INEC officials and enhancing vote transmission by electronic means. These are the key introductions the electoral act amendment bill seeks to introduce.
Let it be said that human beings can hardly be surprised twice on the same spot. If the bid to stall electoral reforms is aimed at cleaning the votes, it must be noted that such an act is a double-edged sword. Politicians would say, you can only rig where you are popular but every politician is popular somewhere. That is the food for thought.
and then