3 July 2008
Lagos — Chuks Okocha who covered the last public hearing by the Presidential Committee on Electoral Reform in Abuja, writes on the thought provoking submissions by civil society groups, political parties, NBA, among others, during the exercise
The last public hearing session organized by the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) ended in Abuja recently, with various organizations, including political parties, women pressure groups, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) talking tough on the disturbing state of Nigeria's electoral system.
The ERC was set up by President Umaru Yar'Adua last year to decipher solutions to the perceived rotten state of the electoral system. The committee, being headed by former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Muhammdu Uwais, had conducted the public hearing in most of the major cities across the six geo-political zones of the country. The Abuja session of the public hearing was the last in the series.
The first set of people to appear at the ECOWAS secretariat venue of the public hearing were the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Gender Reforms and Constitutional Campaign Committee. In their submissions, both organisations called for the entrenchment of a provision that will guarantee independent candidacy in the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly.
Specifically, the women groups called for the scrapping of the Federal Character Commission and its eventual replacement with what they described as Equal Opportunity Board.
They also called for the return to a two-party system, which was earlier introduced by the regime of former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida. In the same vein, CAN, represented by Rev. R. B. Nwankwo, called for a two-party system or a multi-party system that will not recognise more than five political parties.
Like the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), CAN called for the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into three separate bodies to include the Political Parties Commission and the Electoral Offences Commission.
According to the Christian organization, the Political Parties Commission shall be solely responsible for the monitoring of political parties and also ensuring that internal democracy is guaranteed in the affairs of political parties. INEC, CAN said, should concentrate mainly on the management of elections, insisting that other bodies should oversee relevant issues such as political parties' affairs.
In the papers of the Gender Reform and Constitutional Campaign Committee presented by Hon. Beni Lar and Saddatu Sani, the group called for a Proportional Representation of Women Affirmative Action. It also demanded for no fewer than 35 per cent of all elective and appointive offices for women and special interest groups.
The women group called for the appointment of an INEC chairman from the ranks of serving or retired judges, insisting that INEC should hands off the delineation of constituencies to the National Boundary Commission because it allegedly lacks the technical competence to handle the task effectively.
They called for the scrapping of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) as well as its replacement with the Equal Opportunity Commission, which according to them, should be charged with the responsibility of ensuring equal opportunities for all, especially on gender issues. Their memoranda contained 20,000 signatures t.
Both CAN, the women group and individuals such as the former Deputy Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Gandoyi, called for effective funding of INEC to the extent that the commission should be funded from the consolidated funds. According to them, this will insulate INEC from manipulation by the Presidency.
In their memoranda, both the NLC and NBA as well as the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) reiterated calls for the unbundling of INEC into three separate entities, to include the setting up of two commissions to be known as the Political Parties Registration Commission and the Electoral Crimes Commission.
This development, they argued, would enable INEC to concentrate on core issues like the management of elections and other election matter.In the unbundling agenda, the groups said Political Parties Registration Commission would be charged with the following responsibilities viz: "registering and regulating activities, including financing; part of the unbundling of INEC and to avoid the current situation where INEC is supposed to be overseeing political parties at the very time when it should be concentrating on preparing for elections."
The three bodies in separate memoranda, recommended the establishment of a commission to be known as the Electoral Crimes Commission, which shall handle all cases of electoral malpractices.
The NLC said: "We believe that election rigging, electoral violence and other subversion of electoral rules are crimes against the people. These are offences that require to be prosecuted whether or not there are disputations of electoral outcome by parties or candidates.
"Therefore, we propose the setting up of an autonomous and constitutionally recognized Electoral Crimes Commission (ECC) which should be empowered to receive complaints, investigate them and prosecute offenders. The powers of ECC should include monitoring compliance with campaign finance regulations."
NLC added that the National Judicial Council or the Police Service Commission should nominate the chairman of ECC, while membership of the commission should be drawn from the Labour, civil societies, NBA and the media.
Other issues highlighted by the NLC, NBA and civil societies' memoranda to the ERC included the timing of elections, which they stated should be held six months to the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent.
Also contained in the memoranda were issues of mergers, which they said should be allowed, adding that INEC funding should be based on first line charges on the consolidated Revenue Account.
Another issue in the memoranda of the NLC, NBA and civil society groups was the appointment of INEC national commissioners, which they said should be determined by three political parties with the highest number of seats at the National Assembly in collaboration with the Labour, civil groups, professional associations and members of the organized private sector.
They further said that national commissioners should be allowed to elect their chairman and shall have powers to remove the chairman where necessary, while the National Assembly shall possess powers to remove any INEC national commissioner for misconduct.
The resident electoral commissioners, they submitted, should be appointed by the commission, made accountable to the commission and disciplined by the commission, adding that the RECs should be confirmed by the National Assembly.
On the publication of results, NLC, NBA and the Coalition of Civil Society Groups recommended that "results must be transmitted immediately they are declared at the polling station and the media are free to publish the individual results and mount up the totals as the results emerge so that the process is more transparent."
On the duration of election petitions and tribunals, NLC, NBA and the civil groups recommended that there shall be no time limit, but while petitions are pending, no certificate of election should be issued.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and 12 other political parties on the second day of the exercise, called for the scrapping of the constitutional powers of the president to appoint the national chairman and commissioners of INEC.
At the public hearing, the NBA, through its chairman on Special Public Interest and Development Law, Chief Joe Gadzama (SAN), ANPP and 12 political parties which include the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Liberation Party (ALP), New Democrat (ND), Peoples Mandate Party (PMP), Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Citizen Popular Party (CPP),National Solidarity Peoples Party (NSPP) and African Peoples Party (APP) advanced the suggestion for the amendment of the constitution with a view to ensuring the scrapping of the powers of the President to appoint the INEC chairman and the national commissioners.
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