Nigeria’s general elections may now hold in December or early January 2011 following the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill by the National Assembly last week. All that remains is for two-thirds of the 36 states Houses of Assembly to endorse the recommendations contained in the report.
Ordinarily, the elections should be held in April 2011, leaving enough room for the parties to hold their primaries by the end of this year to select candidates for the various offices.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have however adopted a harmonized report which recommended that elections hold not earlier than 150 days – or later than 120 days to the date of swearing. This, according to the lawmakers, will ensure that election petitions are disposed of before the winners are sworn in.
The ad-hoc committees of both chambers, which reviewed the 1999 Constitution separately had made this recommendation and amended Sections 76, 132 and 178 of the document. It was eventually adopted by the 14-member Harmonization Committee.
For instance, the report adopted by the lawmakers, which will be sent to the state legislatures this week, says elections to the National Assembly shall be held “one hundred and fifty days and not later than one hundred and twenty days” before the legislature is dissolved.
This is a departure from what obtains currently. Sections 76 (2) of the Constitution says that elections into the House “shall not be earlier than sixty days before and not later than the date on which the House stands dissolved….” Since 1999, general elections have held in April.
Moreover, with the alteration of Section 65, 131 and 177 of the constitution, only those with Diploma or its equivalent, or who have served as members of the National Assembly, will contest elections to the federal legislature. The relevant certificates include Ordinary National Diploma, Nigerian Certificate in Education, Higher School Certificate, Advanced Diploma and Higher National Diploma.
The constitution currently provides that a person shall qualify to stand for elections if he/she has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.
Another recommendation is that Nigerians who are not card carrying members of any political party can contest elections as independent candidates.
One of the most controversial recommendations is that persons who have been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry or Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, can run in any election. In amending Section 66 (1) (h), 137 (1) (i),182 (1) (i) of the constitution, the lawmakers recommended that only those indicted by competent law courts can be barred from contesting elections in the country.
The report also recommended that whenever the president or any state governor is proceeding on vacation or is unable to discharge the functions of his office, he shall transmit a written declaration to the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives in the case of the president, and the Speaker of the state assembly in the case of a governor, to allow their deputies perform the function of the president as acting president or acting governor, respectively.
It added that in a situation where they fail to transmit the written declarations within 21 days, the vice President and the deputy governor shall by resolution of the simple majority of the vote of the Senate and the House of Representatives or the state assembly as the case may be, perform the functions of the office of the president or governor until the President or governor is available. This recommendation followed the insertion of some clauses in Sections 145 and 190 of the Constitution.
The lawmakers also adopted a recommendation which put the Independent National Electoral Commission and National Assembly on first line charge just like the Judiciary. This means they can draw their funds directly from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) without going through the executive arm. This followed the alteration of Section 81 of the constitution.
Give us Uwais report
However, some non-governmental organisations have kicked against the recommendations, saying most of them did not tally with those contained in the report of the Electoral Reform Committee chaired by Justice Muhammadu Uwais.
Emma Ezeazu, chairman of the Alliance for Credible Elections, a non-governmental organisation, condemned the recommendations, saying the group disagreed with the outcome of the National Assembly exercise.
“We are not satisfied with what they have passed and are sending to the state legislatures. Their recommendations are a far cry from the strategic recommendation of the Uwais Report,” Mr Ezeazu told NEXT over the weekend.
Mr Ezeazu, a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, however, said certain recommendations, such as the independent funding of INEC and the 150 days period within which elections should be held before swearing in, came to the group, “as a victory news.” Similarly, the Chairman of Egalitarian Mission, Kayode Ajulo said “They have their own constitutional power to act on Uwais report without the government even prompting them. It can come as a private member bill.
“What the federal legislators are working on is just what the executives sent to them as regards Uwais report. What we are saying, is that we need the holistic implementation of the Uwais report. This is not enough!” According to him, such recommendations like the “all inclusive” method of selection recommended by the Uwais report; the shifting of the burden of proof to INEC, and the adjudication of election cases before swearing-in were left out in both the constitutional amendments and electoral act amendment, and this can undermine the entire effort.
Spokesperson of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), Osita Okechukwu also criticized the amendment, saying “it is self-serving and it lacks substance.”