DESPITE government assurances, expressed as late as last night, anxiety is turning into fear that the crucial general elections in April may not hold as scheduled, no thanks to a critical legal lacuna that may be cited to justify its possible postponement.
Politicians at the weekend in Abuja woke up to the reality of the President not assenting to the amended Electoral Act 2006, which was effected by the National Assembly since Tuesday, January 30, 2007.
The immediate implication of the presidential inaction on the amended Electoral Act is that the 51 million voters registered after the expiration of the first voter registration may not be legally qualified to participate in the elections.
But the Presidency last night allayed fears of the citizens that Obasanjo would not hand over in May this year, claiming that the anxiety was being raised by the opposition that was not interested in healthy outcome of the elections.
Political Adviser to the President, Mr. Akin Osuntokun dismissed the fear over presidential inaction on the Act as a “non-issue”.
He said there was nothing to suggest that the feared legal lacuna would be an issue that could derail the April elections.
For the third time in four months, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Tuesday, January 31 extended the voter revalidation, which kicked off on October 7, 2006. Following the last extension, the exercise formally ended on Friday, February 2, 2007 with a legal challenge.
The challenge: Section 10 of the 2006 Electoral Act had made it mandatory for INEC to conclude the revalidation 120 days to the general elections. The extension, therefore, contravened this provision of the Electoral Act.
But the two chambers of the National Assembly rose to the legal challenge quickly following consultations with all the stakeholders that agreed that Nigerians should be given more time to register. Hence, the period of revalidation was reduced from 120 to 60 days.
The extension was said to have provided additional 51 million voters. The INEC thereafter announced that 61 million voters had been registered, to the delight of all.
To legalise the extension, the amended Act was quickly dispatched to the President for assent. But more than 30 days after, the President had not signed the document.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly that has the responsibility to make it law by overriding the President’s probable veto has gone on recess until after the elections. And the President has not returned the Act to the National Assembly.
This was the point of worry by some Nigerians, especially politicians, at the weekend.
At press time last night, a source in Abuja insisted that there had been dark hints of a formal announcement of a possible postponement of the elections, an allegation that INEC had been denying.
Doubts on this score began to crystalise when the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) hinted of the challenge of getting adequate voter cards before the elections. He did not say more last month after a Council of State meeting in Abuja.
Osuntokun reiterated President Obasanjo’s readiness to quit power in May this year even as he noted that the clincher could have come from the opposition that has made the Atiku phenomenon as the issue in this election.
His words: “Obasanjo wants to go on 29 May this year. Presidential election is presidential election; it has been scheduled.”
But he confessed, “really, I have not spoken to the President on why he withholds his assent. It is a non-issue on which people are expressing fear and anxiety unnecessarily.”
“If anything untoward happens to the elections, it will not be because of President’s withholding assent. It will not be from that angle. Who will go and make an issue out of it?” he queried.
Told that the media and the opposition would cry foul, Osuntokun fired back: “Then, Nigerians should note that it is not in the interest of some opposition elements to have a successful election. All they want is for the President to be disgraced and humiliated.
“They want to distract the President not to be able to face elections they know they cannot win, in any case. Why will the President want to sabotage the elections through an Electoral Act?”
The former managing director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) urged “the civil society, the media and the opposition to assist the President by not queuing up behind the Vice President and encouraging the Senate President to derail the transition and take over.”
He continued: “I mean, the media and the opposition should not help in fostering atmosphere of confusion, agitation and crisis, which we are doing if we are making Atiku the issue.
“We should be more careful not to reduce this transition to personality clash. We should be constructive, as we have always done in the media and the civil society. Nigerian media and the civil society organs have always been robust in debate and criticism.”