An imminent ban on electoral candidates accused of corruption in Nigeria has raised the political heat ahead of the April votes, with critics accusing President Olusegun Obasanjo of a hidden agenda.
The nation’s anti-graft agency last week published a list of 135 indicted candidates, including vice president Atiku Abubakar, whom it said must appear before a government-sponsored panel of enquiry to defend charges of corruption levied at them.
Gubernatorial and state legislative polls are slated for April 14 while presidential and national assembly elections are fixed for April 21 in Nigeria’s first civilian-to-civilian transition since independence in 1960.
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the opposition Action Congress (AC), and several other indictees have dismissed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as an illegal and unconstitutional body set up by Obasanjo to sink his opponents’ political ambitions.
Some critics say that the ban could trigger political violence and provide an opportunity to Obasanjo, who came into office in May 1999, to extend his stay in power.
The AC said in an official statement this week in Abuja that if Abubakar was disqualified by INEC, it would be putting “the nation’s fledgling democracy in harm’s way and voting for tenure elongation.”
“If INEC allows itself to be used by those seeking to truncate this democracy, the commission would have succeeded in writing its name boldly in the black book of history,” the AC said.
The parliament last year killed Obasanjo’s attempt to go for a third term in May 2007 at the expiration of his two four-year terms.
Of the 135 indicted politicians, 52 people, including would-be governors, are from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), 27 from the AC and others from four other leading political parties.
The AC, in a statement, said the panel is targeting Abubakar because Obasanjo has made clear he will not to allow his deputy to succeed him in May.
The party has vowed not to drop Abubakar as its candidate and the former senior customs officer has in the past days intensified his campaign across the country.
The PDP and some other political parties who fielded gubernatorial and parliamentary candidates indicted with corruption are making efforts to have them replaced and have until the end of February to do so.
The EFCC last year indicted Abubakar, Obasanjo’s deputy since 1999, with corruption over the management of a petroleum agency he presided.
Nigerians are divided on whether it is the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the political parties, government or the court to disqualify a discredited candidate.
While the AC argues that neither the government nor the INEC and the EFCC have the right to disqualify the accused candidates, constitutional lawyers said that the electoral agency does have such powers.
“INEC is constitutionally in order to announce disqualification of candidates for elections. INEC is totally in charge, it is constitutionally empowered to see to every aspect of elections,” lawyer Gani Fawehinmi told AFP, citing several portions of the constitution to support his claim.
“Since all candidates vying for elective positions submit their credentials to INEC, the body is empowered by law to accept or reject candidates based on facts available to it,” said Fawehinmi.
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, agreed with Fawehinmi.
“If someone is an ex-convict or has been indicted for corruption or any other offence, INEC, being a government agency, .. is in its place to disqualify such a candidate seeking office,” said Falana, who is also a politician.