Memo to Nnamani Committee: North under fire

CONTENTS of a memorandum submitted by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) have sparked off an uproar between the body of Northern leaders and their Southern counterparts over ACF’s claim that the problem of Nigeria is neither restructuring nor constitution.

The leaders are particularly miffed by the assertion of ACF in the document forwarded to the Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform, headed by a former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, that the country was in dire straits because of leadership failure, the collapse of national ideals and moral value.

In the memo signed by the ACF Secretary-General, Colonel J.I.P. Ubah (retd),  the pan-Northern group expressly stated that “ACF is of the firm belief that the problems of Nigeria are more with the failure of leadership, collapse of national ideals and moral value rather than the structure of the country or its constitution.”

Southern leaders under the aegis of Afenifere, Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF) and the South-South groups disagreed with the ACF, saying the existing dysfunctional federal structure necessitated the preponderance of calls by major stakeholders in the country for restructuring.

Afenifere even emphasised that the need for restructuring necessitated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is of a northern extraction, to join the fray.

Similarly, the Yoruba Unity Forum (YUF), through its publicity secretary, Dr Kunle Olajide, said though he welcomed the position of ACF on some of the demands, he said it was wrong for it to claim that the problem of the country was about leadership failure, collapse of national ethics and moral values, rather than the structure of the country and its constitution.

“I agree with many of the ACF’s positions. The only thing I disagree with is in paragraphs one and two, which state that the problems of Nigeria are more with the failure of leadership, collapse of national ethics and moral values, rather than the structure of the country or its constitution. That is utterly wrong.

“Failure of leadership arises from the leadership recruitment system. The leadership recruitment process is defective because it does not take to account, the peculiarities of the ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. And once you have that leadership failure, nothing else can work.

There has never been a time when Nigerians had agreed as to their national values or ethos. We do not, because we have never been a nation at all.

“So, talk of the collapse of national values and morals is superfluous. Each section of the country has its own ideals. No leadership has forged us into a nation where we have national ethos.  We don’t have national ethos.

In fact, we are by far more divided now than we were at independence: the ethnic consciousness is by far higher now than at independence. You cannot pretend and say that national values collapsed: where are the national values? When did we have them?

“We must restructure or the country will not move. Successive governments had aggravated the divisions in the country. The structure of the country makes the leadership recruitment process very defective.  You cannot expect this system to provide you with effective, nationalistic leadership: it is impossible,” he stated.

Stakeholders from the South-South zone also denounced the ACF for not acknowledging that the defective federal system underlined the crisis of confidence facing the country.

Mr Gabriel Umoh, a Professor of Agricultural and Development Economics at the University of Uyo, said no amount of electoral reforms would help the electoral process unless the polity is restructured in line with what he called “true, fiscal federalism.”

He noted that as long as the Federal Government continued to dictate things to the component units, no meaningful elections would be conducted for credible leaders to emerge to lead the country.

“The answer lies in true and fiscal federalism,” he stressed, urging the centre to cede powers to the regions to control their resources.”.

He said the practice of fiscal federalism would restore confidence in the regions and remove the fear of the unknown that pushed people into participating in election rigging and other malpractices.

In the same vein, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obong Christopher Ekpenyong, said election problems in Nigeria would be corrected when the polity was restructured, adding that assumption of too much power by the central government was responsible for the fears and distrust among the component units.

“Abuja should leave power to the units; they should decentralise power and remove sense of fear and suspicion among the component units”, he stressed, adding that “in the United States of America (USA), the laws in Florida are not the same in Texas.”

According to Ekpenyong, the Federal government should only control some major things like military, telecommunication and others, saying the overbearing influence of the Federal Government has foisted some political desperations that would not allow for a hitch-free electoral process.

A former military governor of the state and member of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, who spoke in an interview with Sunday Tribune, described the ongoing exercise by the Nnamani committee as a duplication of efforts.

According to him, “All the issues to make the electoral process work have been discussed and properly articulated at various forums, including the National Conference report of 2014 and the Muhammed Lawal Uwais’ report.”

He recalled that Senator Nnamani was part of the confab participants and asked that such documents should be revisited, as major issues on electoral reforms were faithfully articulated, but yet to be implemented.

The ACF memorandum to electoral reform committee
Part of the ACF memorandum reads: ACF is of the firm belief that the problems of Nigeria are more with the failure of leadership, collapse of national ideals and moral value rather than the structure of the country or its constitution. Furthermore, reports of past Committees on electoral reforms have not been implemented. All the same, ACF shall continue to participate and address the issues of national importance for the common good of the North and Nigeria.

2.0 Suggestions/Recommendations

ACF therefore submits its suggestions on Electoral Reforms as follows:-

2.1 Application of technology in the electoral process

1. a) ACF suggests that modern technology be employed in the electoral process with the biometric data of the electorate properly captured, stored and used for all elections.
2. b) In addition, the conduct of voting, collation and transmission of results should be done electronically at all levels to ensure credibility in the final result. Provisions regarding this to be amended in both the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
3. c) INEC to limit the number of voters to 500 in each polling unit for easy accessibility and collation of result.

2.2 Decisions of courts on Electoral matters and their impact on the electoral process.

1. a) ACF suggests that all electoral disputes be disposed of before inauguration. This is to avoid a situation which makes it possible for incumbents to use public resources in prosecution of their electoral disputes to the chagrin of the litigant. More so, the process disrupts good governance. Furthermore, pre-election matters could be disposed of before the actual election takes place.
2. b) Consequently, it calls for the amendment to the relevant constitutional provisions and the electoral Act.
3. c) Long process of hearing election petitions and delivery of judgments encourages corruption in the system.

2.3 The efficiency of electoral institutions

1. a) The Independent National Electoral Commissions (INEC) as presently constituted does not enjoy absolute independence, as the Chairman, National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners are appointed by the President and are likely to be subject to the direction and control of the appointing authority. This scenario is apparent in the states Independent Electoral Commission and discourages opposition’s participation in the electoral process, as it does not provide level playing field to all.
2. b) ACF therefore suggests a truly unbiased electoral body to comprise the following representatives:
3. i) Civil Society Organizations – 3
4. ii) Nigerian Labour Congress – 3

iii) Political parties that secured at least 10 per cent of the seats of the Federal House of Representatives.

1. iv) Three (3) nominees of the Federal Government:

Nominees shall be persons of high integrity and not less than forty- five years of age. All nominees are to be screened and confirmed by the Senate. Federal character principles shall apply in the selection of representatives to ensure equity and fairness. The Commission shall elect its own chairman among its members, while the Secretary and other Directors are to be appointed by the Commission.

2.4 Electoral offences and their prosecution.

ACF suggests the need to create a separate entity known as Electoral offences Tribunal which shall be vested among others with the following powers:-

1. a) Enforcement and administration of the provisions of the Electoral Act.
2. b) Investigation of all electoral frauds and related offences and prosecution of electoral offenders.
3. c) Identify, trace and persecute all electoral offenders, i.e INEC staff, party agents, security agents etc.

2.5 The Role of Security Agencies in the electoral Process.

1. a) ACF suggest that the Police and all relevant agencies of government involved in the electoral process be strengthened and encouraged for greater effectiveness during elections. However, government should make concerted effort to demilitarize the election process.
2. b) Security agents shall provide security cover to the voters, INEC polling staff and party agents only, under no circumstance should they be involved in election process.

2.6 Voter Education:

1. a) Voter education shall not only be the responsibility of INEC, but also that of the government, political parties, civic society organizations, socio-cultural groups etc to ensure adequate participation of the electorates in the discharge of their civil responsibilities.

2.7 Diaspora Participation in voting:

1. a) ACF supports the amendments of the relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to allow every citizen of Nigeria resident abroad and of voting age (18 years and above) to register as a voter and also be eligible to vote during elections.
2. b) INEC to ensure that logistic requirements to accommodate Diaspora voters are provided to meet the new provisions.

2.8 Independent Candidature:

1. a) ACF observes that due to lack of internal democracy in most of the political parties, candidates were denied nomination by their parties and forced to defect to other political parties. In some cases aggrieved persons resort to violence which is counterproductive to the process of free and fair election.
2. b) Every Nigerian who meets the specified condition as provided by the Electoral Act shall be free to contest election as an independent candidate.

2.9 Funding of Political Parties.

1. a) Public funding of political parties which now accounts for the existence of all manners of parties should be discontinued and relevant sections of the Constitution and the Electoral Act be deleted.
2. b) Using public funds and government properties by political parties should be discouraged.

2.10 Internal Party Democracy

1. a) ACF notes that Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provide adequate guidelines on internal democracy for political parties, it suggest that both provision be enhanced and sustained subject to party convention ratification.”