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Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Inflation of election results, thuggery, ballot box snatching, vote buying, among several others, have been identified as some of the hallmarks of Nigeria’s elections by political pundits and scholars.
The just concluded gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states have further given credence to the fears harboured by Nigerians during the conduct of any election, no matter how infinitesimal it is.
Rejection of 8th National Assembly’s amendment of Electoral Act
Observers have often argued that the bloodbath that greeted the conduct of the 2019 general elections and November 16 polls in Bayelsa and Kogi states would have been avoided if President Muhammadu Buhari had assented to the 2018 Electoral Amendment Bill.
The last National Assembly passed the Electoral Amendment Act three times and President Buhari vetoed the bill three times. Reasons were advanced by the president and his men why the amendments were rejected.
The exercise by the last Assembly also caused serious disaffections in the National Assembly culminating in the suspension of the current Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege and the eventual invasion of the Red Chamber by armed thugs who allegedly acted on the instructions of the Delta Central senator.
The exercise also birthed several attempts by senators elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to impeach Dr Bukola Saraki, the President of the 8th Senate.
Two major components of the bill gave rise to the series of battles that followed thereafter. The electronic transmission of results and sequencing of elections.
The new Amendment
Coincidentally, Omo-Agege who led the offensive against the passage of the bill is the sponsor of the new amendment. Although other components captured in the last botched amendments are captured in the current one, sequencing of elections is conspicuously missing.
Presenting the lead debate on the bill, Omo-Agege, who is the sponsor, drew the attention of lawmakers to the fact that the duty of the National Assembly to protect constitutional order “starts with ensuring that our elections are free, fair and credible.
“To achieve this, our electoral laws must be sound and up to date in order to respond adequately to new challenges that come with changing times and human behaviours.”
He explained that the bill was “a response in part to a plethora of Supreme Court decisions directly or indirectly calling upon the National Assembly to act,” pointing out that “the apex court has persistently done this regarding INEC’s introduction of modern technologies into the electoral process, especially accreditation of voters.”
This bill, according to Omo-Agege, “seeks to ensure that the Act clearly forbids members of political parties from taking up employment in INEC, mandate INEC to publish the Voters Register for public scrutiny at every Registration Area and on its website at least seven (7) days before a general election, mandate INEC to suspend an election in order to allow a political party that lost its candidate before or during an election to conduct a fresh primary to elect a replacement or new candidate.”
It also mandated INEC “to accommodate new technologies in the accreditation of voters during elections, as repeatedly called for the Supreme Court, define over voting to include situations where total votes cast also exceed total number of accredited voters, provide greater clarity and transparency in the process of reaching the final announcement of election results, starting with sorting of ballots, counting of votes, etc.”
Omo-Agege also explained that “the amendment mandates INEC to record and keep relevant detailed information of results sheets, ballot papers and other sensitive electoral materials used in an election, with clear consequences for violation, enact a new Section 87 on Nomination of Candidates by Parties for Elections by prescribing maximum fees payable by aspirants and restricting nomination criteria strictly to relevant provisions of the Constitution.
“In compliance with Order 77(3) of our Standing Rules, I state that this bill has no financial implications. Accordingly, there is no accompanying financial compendium. For the greater good of this great Republic, I hereby humbly move for the Second Reading of this bill to be taken.”
A key aspect of the bill is its provision for electronic voting
The bill repealed Section 52(2) of the principal Act and introduced a new subsection (2) which reads: “The Commission may adopt electronic voting or any other method of voting in any election it conducts as it may deem fit.”
The bill also compelled INEC to operate an electronic database into which all results in an election should be transmitted.
It also stipulates that data of accredited voters must be transmitted to the central data base upon the conclusion of the accreditation of voters which would be done through the use of the Card Reader.
“At the end of accreditation of voters, the presiding officer shall transmit the voter accreditation data by secure mobile electronic communication to the central database of the commission kept at the national headquarters of the commission.
“Any presiding officer who contravenes this provision shall be liable, on conviction, to a minimum of imprisonment of at least five years without an option of fine,” the bill stipulated.
The bill also seeks to prevent INEC from shutting down the central data base until all petitions arising from the elections are determined by a tribunal or court.
“In respect of data of accreditation of voters, including polling unit results, for an election, the commission shall not shut down its central database kept at its national headquarters until all election petitions and appeals pertaining to that election are heard and determined by a tribunal or court,” it added.
On the specific provisions for the adoption of the central database, the bill seeks amendment of Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2010 by introducing a “National Electronic Register of Election Results.”
It stated: “The commission shall compile, maintain and update on a continuous basis, a register of election results to be known as the National Electronic Register of Election Results which shall be a database of election results from each polling unit, including collated results of each election conducted by the commission.
“National Electronic Register of Election Results shall be kept by the commission at its national headquarters and any person or political party may obtain from the commission, on payment of reasonable fees as may be determined by the commission, a certified true copy of any election result kept in the National Electronic Register of Election Results for the federation, a state, local government, area council, ward or polling unit, as the case may be and the certified true copy may be in printed or electronic format.”
It was learnt that many lawmakers are not comfortable with the additional clause which permits INEC to use any other method it deems fit and may delete that option during the consideration of the bill.
The extant Electoral law completely prohibits the use of electronic voting as it states: “The use of the electronic voting machine, for the time being, is prohibited.”
The reform bill has also slashed the nomination fees charged by political parties. Presidential aspirants are to pay not more than N10 million while governorship aspirants are to pay N5 million.
Specifically, the bill stated: “For the purpose of nomination of candidates for election, the total fees, charges, dues and any payment howsoever named imposed by a political party on an aspirant shall not exceed: N150,000 for a ward councillorship aspirant in the FCT; N250,000 for an area council chairmanship aspirant in the FCT; N500,000 for a house of assembly aspirant; N1,000,000 for a House of Representatives aspirant; N2,000,000 for a senatorial aspirant; N5,000,000 for a governorship aspirant; and N10,000,000 for a presidential aspirant.”
Lawmakers react
Speaking on the issue, Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe, blamed the failure of the last attempt to amend the Act on the Executive.
He said that the last Assembly performed its role by deferring to the Executive, but regretted that everything collapsed in the end.
Abaribe said: “I can tell you that it wasn’t the fault of the National Assembly that those bills were returned and, of course, we have also seen bills being signed in Nigeria, a few days before their elections.
“It has also happened. Of course, we didn’t accept the reasons for the decline in assent to those bills and the reason given which of course we don’t accept has also shown itself today.
“Because if those bills were signed, I don’t think what happened in Kogi where number of votes in a local government was more than the number of PVCs and INEC still accepted the results. That will tell you the reason we need the bill and we are going to do everything to do our own job which is to do the legislation and pass it along to the president for assent.
“It will now be his responsibility to listen to the yearnings of Nigerians for credible election, because all we want is a credible election. We want people elected on the basis of their performance and campaigns and let it be that the votes will count.”
Clifford Ordia, who chairs Local and Foreign Debt Committee, reacting, said that the proposed amendments, if signed into law, would address many misgivings in the conduct of elections in the country.
He said that lawmakers would do whatever is necessary to ensure that the right thing is done.
He said that the electronic transmission of results which would be passed alongside others, would address issues of ballot box snatching, rigging, among others.
In the House of Representatives, the lawmakers are also ready to handle with dispatch the Electoral Act Amendment in the lower chamber.
Recently, the chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Aisha Dukku, said that the Ninth House is fully committed to the amendment of the Electoral Act.
Dukku recalled that the National Assembly made several attempts to give the country a new electoral law in the Eight Assembly, saying that however, all the efforts were unfruitful as President Buhari repeatedly declined assent to the bill, citing various reasons.
“It is important to remind honourable members that during the life span of the Eight Assembly, 12 bills seeking to amend the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the Electoral Act Amendment 2015 sponsored by members of the House of Representatives were referred to the House Committee on Electoral Matters after subsequent second reading for further legislative actions.
“The National Assembly passed the Electoral Act (amendment) bill 2018 and forwarded same to the president for his assent pursuant to Section 58(4)of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended.
“However, the president declined assent due to lacuna or drafting issues in some of the clauses of the bill and advised that those observations be addressed.
“The president observations were accordingly addressed and the bill was again passed in December 2018 and later in April 2019 following another decline to assent by the president inter alia,” she stated.
The lawmaker noted that there are a number of fundamental shortcomings in the Electoral Act that need to be addressed in order to make it fully in line with global standards for elections.
“As it stands the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is still hanging, hence there is need for this committee to it bring up because there are several important amendments there that will improve our electoral process.
“I wish to assure all Nigerians that the House Committee on Electoral Matters is fully ready and will do everything within its powers to improve and strengthen the conduct of elections in Nigeria,” Dukku added.
However, the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, said the leadership of the House has resolved to give the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which was rejected last year, accelerated passage.
Elumelu said: “Because we have so many bills that are lined up for presentation, like that of Electoral Act will not go the novel, it will be something that will come under Committee of the Whole. It is already in process and very soon it will be listed.”
