Paul Ibe, Ike Abonyi And Etim Imisim
11 January 2009
Abuja — Former Senate President, Dr. Ken Nnamani, has said the leadership of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) should not continue to be in office after bringing national and international disgrace to Nigeria in the conduct of the 2007 elections.
He told THISDAY in an interview that he had decided on ordering the arrest and imprisonment of INEC leaders while he was in office but time ran out on him.
He regretted missing an opportunity he had of actualising his plans after the conduct of the elections in April and the expiration of his tenure in May 2007.
"We failed to solve this very problem," he said, "because, if you observed, the Senate had set up a joint committee to investigate what happened in the 2007 elections. We were investigating INEC before our time ran out. And INEC leadership avoided or did not turn to the invitation. We would have used Section 89.1(a) to order for their arrest. If I were in Nigeria at that time I would have, without hesitation, signed the warrant of arrest and incarceration of the leadership of INEC because we are empowered to do that by the constitution."
In Nnamani's view, reasons such as court reversal of elections results that had been officially authenticated by the statutory body created to conduct elections are enough justification to sack the Maurice Iwu-led electoral body. He cited the example of Edo State and said officials, who managed elections there have now been proven to have a case to answer.
"I am using Edo because that matter is settled," he said. "There are so many that are still pending in courts, for elections that took place in 2007, so I don't want to comment on those ones," he said.
Nnamani also regrets that the National Assembly under his leadership failed to match sanctions with offences in the 2006 Electoral Law. "I admit that we in the National Assembly did our own fair share of mistakes," he said. "We made a mistake in the Electoral Act. We did not provide in the 2006 Electoral Act punishment for INEC officials who committed any particular or general offence."
"The implication of that omission was that an unnecessary burden was being placed on the shoulders of the judiciary because when a resident electoral officer, knowingly or unknowingly, makes pronouncements, whether true or false, the only way you can change it is through the court system."
"The idea of shifting your responsibility to the judiciary (should) not (be) there," Nnamani said, "because the courts are not courts of morals, but courts of justice and courts don't have the time to do investigations."
Nnamani disagrees with people who argue that the leadership of INEC cannot be removed. "Section 157.1 of our Constitution empowers the Senate," he said. "If the President presents a report that the chairman of INEC or any of the statutory bodies has a misconduct, he can be removed with two-thirds."
The section says: "Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind of body or any other cause) or for misconduct."
"Everywhere in the world people say that Nigeria could not conduct elections," he said. "What else can be more than misconduct with both the domestic and international observers condemning the performance and the process and conduct of the 2007 elections?"
Nnamani is canvassing the establishment of a Commission of Enquiry instead of the Election Review Committee, which President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua instituted to get to the root causes of the problems surrounding the conduct of the 2007 elections. His fear is that the recommendations of the Election Review Committee would lack basis for corrective actions, since its findings would be opinions and information of general nature. On the contrary, he believes, a Commission of Enquiry would go after facts on which the prosecution of electoral offender could be based.
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