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…Momoh, Musa, Okorie, Nnaji laud provision but maintain that the country’s democracy is not ripe for it
By Onyedika Agbedo
with 82 yes votes in the Senate as against five nays and three abstainers, Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber last Wednesday voted in support of independent candidacy in the ongoing amendment of the 1999 constitution. The House of Representatives toed the same line a day after with 275 yes votes against 14 nays and one abstainer; a testimony to the unity of purpose between both chambers of the National Assembly on the issue. But in spite of popularity of the proposal among the lawmakers, some eminent Nigerians believe that the country’s political system at the moment does not support it. They submitted that the inherent advantages of the proposal notwithstanding, it would only be effective at the local council level, particularly in councillorship elections.
Nonetheless, the approval of the proposal by the NASS is in tandem with the recommendations of the Sen. Ken Nnamani-led Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee. The committee had in its report, which was submitted to the Presidency last May 2, endorsed the inclusion of independent candidacy in Nigeria’s electoral laws.
A member of the committee and the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre PLAC, Clem Nwankwo, had rationalised the proposal in a chat with newsmen shortly after the report was presented to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, saying it would “deal with the issues of political parties who do not respect their laws as regards nomination of candidates for electoral offices.”
But former Minister of Information and Culture, Prince Tony Momoh, believes that introducing independent candidacy into our electoral system would further lead to the depletion of the resources that would have been channeled into the development t of the country.
Momoh, who spoke in an interview with Sunday Sun, opined that with over 45 registered political parties in the country, there were quantum platforms for aspirants to vie for elections already, hence there is no need for the creation independent candidacy.
He said: “Independent candidacy will increase the cost of our democracy and then show how ready we are to put democracy in the front burner of governance to the detriment of development. Nigeria is the only country in the world that puts democracy before development. All countries look at their level of development and then adopt that quantum of freedom that will drive development. Here, if we are not having full time councilors, House of Assembly members, National Assembly members and others, we are looking for where to spend money. Now, we have more than 45 registered political parties and we want to add other opportunities where people can spend the little resources they have trying to access power. So, the mode of accessing power, which are the peripheral areas we are looking at today, is a mode and no more; it will not add value to governance.”
Momoh stressed that “What we ought to be doing is looking at the challenges we have now and then addressing them frontally,” adding: “We have not adopted a template to address the welfare and the security of citizens, which is why government is there; and that is chapter two of the constitution. The resources for addressing welfare and security are the resources we are dissipating on governance. So, we ought to be looking at whether we want fulltime or parttime legislature, and they will make sense if they say parttime legislature as we had in the First Republic. We will be serious if we say do we need two Houses and they say we need one House; that will make more sense to Nigerians. We will be serious if we say do we need all these concentration of power at the centre and they say, no we don’t, let us devolve power. So, when you decongest the political space, economic deregulation becomes automatic. So, when we are talking of addressing governance, we ought to be looking at areas where we will save resources for the country. We are not growing Nigeria and what they are doing is peripheral. So, whether it is independent candidacy or making certain groups of people to be appointed into government on the basis of sex or making the young people participate in governance and contest election or whatever, all those areas may be needed in a democracy but they are not sine qua non for growth.”
When reminded that independent candidacy was envisaged a solution for lack of internal democracy in Nigerian political parties, Momoh explained further: “In the developed world like America, Europe and England, people earned the right to vote. Here you say that the right to vote is dependent on age; and you say people at a particular age should contest elections and so on and so forth. We have more than 45 parties; but is it not only two parties that make it, not to talk of individuals now? People who have no money will go and look for money to contest elections. In this most expensive political arrangement we have, apart from the councillorship level, how can an independent person want to be governor of a state or the president of Nigeria without a political party. So, independent candidacy can be feasible at the local government level. But the fact is there are lots of dead parties, dying parties or mushroom parties, which those who want to be independents can use. But we are just addressing issues that will grow democracy rather than development. We are still interested in investing in governance and eating up the resources that ought to be channeled to development. So, what they are doing in the NASS as far as I am concerned is nothing but a colossal waste of time.”
Former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, however, expressed delight with the proposal. “It will strengthen our democracy because it will give the electorate a wider choice. You know that it is not easy to form a political party and there are credible people that the country needs. But they can’t emerge unless they are contesting on the platform of a registered political party. And as it is today, money plays a major role in Nigerian politics and elections. Now, someone who has the interest of his people at heart but who cannot get the nomination of his party even with all his noble intentions can run as an independent candidate if the constitution is amended to accommodate it. It widens the choice of the electorate and democracy is strengthened. If the electorate don’t like the candidates presented by the political parties, they can support an independent candidate they like,” the elder statesman said.
Asked whether an independent candidate can win the presidency of this country, he said: “The presidency is not the important thing. What makes the presidency worth more than the other positions? An independent candidate may not win the presidency under Nigerian the circumstance because money plays a leading role at that level. But he can win at the local level. In our time, individuals used their money to contest elections and they succeeded.”
For the National Chairman of United Progressive Party (UPP) and former presidential candidate, Chief Chekwas Okorie, the proposal is healthy for the polity but inconsistent with our democratic experience.
“It is a very healthy development in our democracy because now, if anybody feels that he is popular enough to contest elections on his personal merit, he will be at liberty. But the point remains that as far as I am concerned, two things combine to achieve victory in an electoral contest — a popular platform and a popular candidate. If you have a popular candidate in an unpopular platform or who doesn’t even have a platform, we have not yet reached that level in our democratic development for such a candidate to win an election, especially if the constituency is large. At the level of councillorship, it can happen because the constituency is small and people know each other. If you were the secretary of your town union or community development association and served meritoriously, you can win a councillorship seat as an independent candidate. But if you are contesting for higher positions like governorship and so on, the constituency gets larger and an individual may not be able to cover the constituency enough to be able to win. But it is a good development, as people will have choices,” Okorie said.
Former governorship candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) in Enugu State, Chima Emmanuel Nnaji, also expressed a similar view. “Independent candidacy in principle is good but the problem is that in our situation where you need a lot money to contest an election, you will have logistic problems. It is a beautiful development for those who have the financial muscle to go it alone. But we will still need to do a lot of hard work to make it work, if it is not going to just be a cosmetic provision in our laws. In principle it’s good; somebody who is popular at the local council level and is capable of mobilising people at that level can start as an independent candidate. But my fear is that given our kind of politics, such people may be muscled out,” Nnaji noted.
Nnaji, a lawyer, further explained that the atmosphere for free and fair elections must exit for the proposal to work if eventually passed. He added: “We want a situation where votes will count, where people are looking at merit and as such focusing their attention on those who are capable of contributing positively to their welfare and not those who are going to share money. We want a situation where there is equity. The tendency in our politics is to stuff life out of those who have the best of intentions to serve but who don’t have the money, because they are likely to expose the emptiness of the mainstream politicians. These are some of the problems.
“Campaigns in this country are very expensive and dangerous; so how would the independent candidate mobilise youths who are usually paid before they can rally round for a candidate as a result of poverty. The people that are going to be the independent candidates are not going to be the multi billionaires; the multi billionaires will hijack the party machinery naturally and use it for themselves willy-nilly. The independent candidates are going to be those who have principle and do not fit into the current political structure either because they don’t seem to portray their thinking and philosophy or they have fallen out of favour with the “godfathers” who do not seem to like the kind of ideas and principles they are holding and espousing. These are the issues; the problems bother more on the finance and logistical support for such a candidate. They can make significant impact at the level of local government level in the councillorship but what impact can they make in our political structure. But as I said, it is a good provision in principle if eventually passed. Let it be there at least, but the sanity we need for it to work appears not nurtured in our political culture.”
Incidentally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is favourably disposed to the issue having advocated for its introduction into our laws in the recent past. So, should the proposal scale the hurdle in two thirds of the State Assemblies as required by law, get passed and receives presidential assent, the country might be on its way to testing the potency of the provision in the 2019 elections.
