Electoral reforms: Kogi, Bayelsa guber polls offer lifeline

Nigeria’s history of electoral reforms, which dates back to the different political transition processes since her independence, has remained a recurring decimal in the polity till date. Felix Nwaneri reports on the opportunity offered by the forthcoming governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states to correct some of the noticeable flaws in the 2019 general election

The current Fourth Republic, which commenced in 1999 after long years of military rule, has had its own fair share of electoral reforms, which has characterised Nigeria’s polity over time. Prominent among efforts in this regard was the 2017 Electoral Reform Committee set up by then President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Headed by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mohammed Uwais, the committee was the Yar’Adua administration’s response to the outcome of the 2007 general elections, which in the views of most stakeholders, including international election observers, fell short of international standards.

Yar Adua had in his inaugural speech admitted flaws in the process that brought him to power and he charged the 22-member committee to make proposals for electoral reforms. As expected, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made a submission to the ERC and contributed to its work by providing relevant documentation and clarifications as required.

The committee delivered on its mandate and submitted its report within a year. It formally submitted its report on December 11, 2008. Unfortunately, Yar’adua was unable to implement the report as he died before he served out his tenure. The succeeding administration led by his then vice, Goodluck Jonathan, promised to implement the report, but it never did until it was voted out in the 2015 general elections.

The report consisted of six volumes, volume one dealt with the main report, while volume two and three dealt with memoranda received by the committee that comprised 22 parts and analysis of the presentations made at the public hearings held by the committee.

Volume four, which was in 13 parts contained the verbatim report of the public hearings, while volume five and six contained reports of retreats held with foreign experts and the appendices to the main report.

Justice Uwais had reasoned then that the implementation of the recommendations “will significantly restore credibility to the Nigerian electoral process and usher in an era of free, fair and credible elections that will conform to international best practices.”

Among the recommendations of the report include the appointment of chairman of INEC and the rest of the board by the National Judicial Council (NJC); that only the Senate should have the power to remove the INEC chairman or anyone on the board based on the NJC’s recommendation and funding of INEC directly through the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation.

Others were setting up of a Constituency Delimitation Commission, Political Parties Registration and Regulatory commissions; holding of presidential and governorship elections at least six months before the expiration of the term of the current holders of the offices; independent candidates and that no elected person should assume office until the case against him or her in the tribunal or court is determined.

Of particular interest was the recommendation for the setting up of an Electoral Offences Commission to ensure prosecution of offenders. And drawing on the ERC’s recommendations, the executive prepared a white paper that formed the basis for drafting the Constitutional Amendment Bill.

Although some of the recommendations were not passed during the constitution amendment process, there was no doubt that those adopted helped in the appreciable success recorded during the 2015 elections by the Prof, Attahiru Jega-led INEC.

Jega, a former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, and former national president of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), was appointed by Jonathan in 2010 and it is to his credit that the country’s electoral process witnessed remarkable improvement while he held sway.

Through several innovations including the introduction of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and card readers for accreditation of voters, the electoral umpire under Jega, restored hope on the country’s electoral process. This was justified by commendations the commission received after the 2015 general elections from local and foreign election observers.

Observer teams from the African Union (AU), European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth gave INEC a pass mark for its impartial handling of the polls. The AU team led by former Ghanaian President John Kuffour, for instance, described the election as peaceful and transparent.

However, despite the thumbs up for the 2015 polls, it was another journey to electoral reform eight years after the Uwais committee submitted its report, when President Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated Jonathan in the 2015 elections, set up a 25-man Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee in October 2016.

Headed by a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, the committee’s terms of reference, according to the then Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who inaugurated the committee on behalf of the President Malami, centred on looking into possible amendments to the Constitution and Electoral Act and coming out with a more robust and generally acceptable electoral system.

Malami, who advised the committee to consult far and wide and in particular with the National Assembly and judiciary in order to make recommendations that would stand the test of time, added: “The committee is also advised to take a holistic look of the recommendation of Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee.”

He recalled that the President had in his inauguration speech (first term in office – May 29, 2015) stated his desire to deepen the country’s democracy and entrench the culture of an enduring electoral system. “It is important to evaluate our democratic journey thus far with a view to fashioning out a more enduring system that will serve present and future generations,” he said.

He further noted that recent judicial decisions have shown that there is urgent need to scale up confidence in the electoral system, pointing out that even the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mohammed Mahmoud, had decried the widespread distortion of binding judicial precedent with conflicting judgements.

But justified as the reasons for the constitution of the committee then, most stakeholders questioned its essence, when the report of the Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee is yet to be implemented.

Besides the Uwais committee report, there is also the report of the 2014 National Conference convoked by the Jonathan administration, which made far reaching recommendations on how to reform the country’s electoral process but yet to be implemented as well. Interestingly, Senator Nnamani chaired the conference’s sub-committee on electoral reform, but Buhari, on coming to power, described the conference as a misplacement of priority.

The position of most stakeholders then was that the Buhari administration should have dusted the Uwais committee report, which they described as comprehensive, for implementation and avoid the duplication of effort and waste of resources, which the Nnamani committee would amount to.

But giving justification for the committee, Malami said the Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee differ from the Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee. His words: “Fundamentally, there are two key differences. The first difference is that in the other committee their assignment concluded with a recommendation and no further steps were taken in terms of actualising it. The whole essence of this committee is that of consolidation.

“From 2008 when the Uwais committee was put in place, a lot of other issues have come up within the electoral landscape in Nigeria. Those new innovations and events that came on board were not taken into consideration by the Uwais committee that is why we call this committee a consolidation committee. Consolidation committee in terms of looking at the recommendations made by the Uwais committee over time, looking at the new innovations that came into the electoral-space and then look at them jointly to see how the process can be taken forward for action and implementation.

“The essence now is taking the process forward by way of seeking the blessings of the Federal Executive Council and National Assembly, and eventually passing it into law. By so doing, the process would be moved from the point of recommendation to the point of implementation through legislative process.”

He decried a situation where the lives of electoral officials are at risk during polls and where politicians make the environment for elections a war theatre.

Nnamani, on his part said he was confident that President Buhari would enhance democratic structures in Nigeria. His words: “The issue of inconclusive elections in the country affects national election, which leads to loss of lives and the best way to handle it is to stop inconclusive election. The best way to stop it in advance is to support the government in implementing what will make Nigeria have non-violence elections.”

The report of the Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee submitted to Malami in May 2017, recommended among others, the unbundling of INEC. It also proposed the establishment of new agencies that would handle some of the commission’s tasks, participation of independent candidates, Diaspora voting and the use of technology for elections.

But unlike other previous reports on electoral reform, the committee did not recommend the establishment of the electoral offences tribunal. Rather, it recommended the expansion of courts by building more courtrooms and appointing more judges under the existing court system.

Two new agencies, proposed by the Nnamani committee to take up some of INEC’s mandates, are the Political Parties and Electoral Offences Commission (PPEOC) and the Constituency Delineation Centre (CDC). While the PPEOC will be concerned with the registration and regulation of political parties as well as prosecution of electoral offenders in regular courts, the CDC will carry out the delineation of constituencies.

Interestingly, the committee did not end its job with the report; it submitted it alongside four proposed bills, two of which sought the establishment of the new agencies. The two other bills sought amendments to relevant parts of the Constitution and the Electoral Act. The four bills were expected to be transmited to the National Assembly as Executive Bills.

While those, who expressed pessimism over the Nnamani committee appears to have been proven right as nothing positive has come out of its report, most stakeholders believe that the appreciable success recorded by the Jega-led INEC has not be sustained given the reports of foreign observers who monitored the 2019 general elections.

Among the observers are European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and the joint Nigeria International Election Observation Mission of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI).

The EU EOM, which spoke through its Chief Observer, Maria Arena, during the presentation of its final report on the 2019 elections, said it observed that the leading parties were at fault in not preventing acts of violence and intimidation by their supporters.

Arena, particularly noted that violence, violation of ballot secrecy, and harassment of voters and journalists characterised the polls. She added that INEC worked in porous security and politically-charged environment, making the electoral officials exposed to physical attacks and intimidation.

The report read in part: “The EU observed 94 collation centres. In almost all, the results forms and smart card readers were not packed in tamper-evident envelopes as required.

“Numerical discrepancies and anomalies on polling unit results forms were identified and were mostly corrected by collation officers on the spot, but without a clear system of record-keeping. Leading parties were at fault in not reining in acts of violence and intimidation by their supporters, and abuse of incumbency at federal and state levels.

“Inconsistent numbers during collation, lack of clear checks and explanations, and insufficient public information undermined the integrity of the elections. Citizens did not have sufficient means to scrutinise results. INEC did not provide centralised information on the declared results for the different locations and has not posted complete results data on its website.

“Similarly, there is a lack of disaggregated results by local government, ward or polling unit, which would allow for thorough checking of results. The elections became increasingly marred by violence and intimidation. This harmed the integrity of the electoral process and may deter future participation.

“Around 150 people died in election-related violence during the campaign period and over the election days. INEC reported attacks on its offices, and also fatalities, abductions and sexual assault against its officials.”

The mission also identified the suspension of the former Chief Justice Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, by President Muhammadu Buhari days to the election ”as seen to lack due process and reportedly undermined judicial independence.”

Against these backdrops, the EU Mission called for fundamental reforms to the Nigeria’s electoral process in order to address systemic failure noticed during the 2019 elections.

“Such reforms need political leadership that is dedicated to the rights of Nigerian citizens, and an inclusive process of national dialogue involving state institutions, parties, civil society and the media. This needs to be urgently undertaken to allow time for debate, legislative changes and implementation well in advance of the next elections,” EU EOM Chief Observer said.

She added that out of the 30 recommendations by the mission, priorities were given to seven. They include strengthening of INEC’s procedures for collation of results to improve integrity and confidence in electoral outcomes; establishment of a requirement in law for full results transparency, with data made easily accessible to the public and strengthening of lNEC’s organisational and operational capacity, as well as its internal communication.

For the joint Nigeria International Election Observation Mission of National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), the 2019 general elections “fell significantly” short of the standards set in 2015.

The final report of both groups was based on findings and recommendations of three pre-election assessment missions in July 2018, September 2018, and December 2018 as well as preliminary statements released following the February 23, 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections and the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections.

“The 2019 general elections fell significantly short of standards set in 2015. Citizens’ confidence in elections was shaken. Election stakeholders should take concrete steps to address the concerns of citizens with regards to the polls in order to rekindle their faith in the power and possibility of credible elections,” IRI President, Dr. Daniel Twining, said.

NDI President, Amb. Derek Mitchell, on his part, said: “The 2019 elections highlighted for many Nigerians the need for a national conversation about the country’s democratization since the 1999 transition to civilian rule. We hope this report may both spur and contribute to enriching that national conversation.”

The NDI/IRI report also provided recommendations to enhance the credibility of elections in Nigeria. It called for improvement in areas of political parties conduct, civic engagement, election security and legal frameworks around election disputes.

While President Buhari accepted the EU EOM report and promised to implement its recommendations during the next elections, a battle of wits ensued between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The presidency, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, said: “The administration of President Buhari will work with all Nigerian citizens, state institutions, parties, civil society, the media and other experts to make sure that the improvements recommended by the EU are implemented, and that these areas of concern are addressed.

But government’s position on the report and its promise to implement the recommendations, notwithstanding, the PDP, which absolved itself off the indictment on issues of violence, said it has been vindicated that the election was outrightly rigged.

The party, through a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “Nigerians are still in shock over the revelations by EU of how about 2.8 million votes were deliberately ‘cancelled without sufficient accountability’ and how several returning officers gave no reason for the cancellations.”

While the bicker between the APC and PDP is expected, INEC has promised to ensure the implementation recommendations by the EU Mission. Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who made the pledge, said the EU EOM recommendations will help the commission to improve on its activities in subsequent elections.

According to him, the implementation of the recommendations would begin with the forthcoming Kogi and Bayelsa states governorship elections. He however said that it would work with other relevant institutions on aspects of the recommendations that required consequential action beyond the mandate of the commission.

The Director-General of the Electoral Institute, Saád Idris, who reiterated the commission’s pledge, while speaking at a recent policy dialogue series tagged “Dynamics of Delegation: Reforms in the Recruitment, Training and Deployment of Ad-hoc Election Personnel” in Abuja, said the chairman of INEC has been engaging with stakeholders since the 2019 general elections to know what went wrong to improve on subsequent elections.

His words: “The effort of the commission is clear, it has owned up to some things that it did not do right, so beginning from the Kogi and Bayelsa elections, you will see improvement.’’

He added that plans to correct the electoral process had started, adding that “we are not going to wait for general elections before correcting all the wrongs.’’

As Nigerians anxiously wait to see how the electoral commission intend to go about the implementation of the various suggestions, which many believe will help ensure credibility of the electoral process, it is certain that the umpire will have the support of the legislature given the assurance by the leaders of two chambers of the National Assembly – Ahmed Lawan (Senate) and Femi Gbajabiamila (House of Representatives).

“I am sure that this time around, we will start considering those issues that we feel require urgent legislative intervention,” Lawan said, while Gbajabiamila, on his part, assured that “parliament will hit the ground running in terms of electoral reforms as the process of elections is before, during and after the elections.”