The appointment of Mrs. Amina Zakari, a pharmacist, as the Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been generating ripples. Sunday Oguntola considers the argument for and against the appointment
It was supposed to be an historic appointment. A woman was asked to head the nation’s electoral body for the first time. But so far, it has generated vitriolic criticisms. Since President Muhammadu Buhari announced Mrs. Amina Zakari as Acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), not a few have raised serious objections.
Zakari, whose tenure ended as National Commissioner of the electoral body on July 21, was appointed by Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Danladi Kifasi, through a statement by the Director of Communications, Office of the HoS, Haruna Imrana.
The terse statement said Zakari was appointed with immediate effect from June 30th, 2015 pending the appointment of a substantive chairman for the electoral body. While many women organisations jubilated and praised Buhari for daring to put the highly influential INEC in the hands of a woman, many condemned the move.
A plethora of objections
First, to raise an eyebrow is the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, took Buhari to the cleaners, saying the appointment was lacking in morality and promotes nepotism. The party rejected the appointment, vowing it would not recognise INEC as long as it is headed by Zakari.
According to Metuh: “President Buhari, in appointing Mrs. Zakari, failed to take into cognizance the moral call to detach himself from the operation of the electoral body thereby completely eroding the independence of the commission.
“We want Nigerians to know that with this appointment, INEC has been stripped of its independence and can no longer command the confidence and respect of the citizens and other critical stakeholders in the nation’s electoral process.”
Not done, the PDP continued: “We ask is the spokesperson of the President, oblivious of the public fact that the Acting Chairman of INEC was once a staff of the Afri-Project Consortium, a company well associated with the President?
“Is he by any means feigning ignorance of the fact that Mrs. Zakari also worked in the past as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Social Development and later that of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Federal Capital Development Authority then under a current APC governor of the Northwest?
“Even where we concede to the worn-out argument that the President has the powers to appoint any person he deems fit as the INEC’s chairman, does moral obligation not demand that in doing so, he should take into cognizance the sensitivity of the position? Otherwise, he can as well appoint his wife or brother as the electoral umpire on an argument of merit.
“Whilst the PDP might not be opposed to Mrs. Zakari becoming one out of the numerous national electoral commissioners to be so appointed, we completely reject her being an executive chairman who takes major decisions in an independent electoral commission while having a strong relationship with the President and a prominent APC Northwest governor.
“Indeed, never in the history of Nigeria has there been an executive chairman of the electoral body with such strong relationship with the President of the country.
The PDP said: “Having in the last 16 years reformed the nation’s electoral system to an enviable status that is being commended by the international community, we cannot sit back and watch too early in the days, its gradual destruction by partisan interest.
“The party therefore urges Nigerians, especially key stakeholders in the democratic process to rise above sectional, religious, gender and partisan biases and put the independence of INEC, the credibility of the electoral process and the overall interest of the nation above every other consideration in their comments and views in the appointment.”
Immediate Chairman of the commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, handed over to Mohammed Wali, a National Commissioner of INEC. That was on June 30 when his five-year tenure ended. The tenure of the Sokoto-born Wali ends by August 11. But Buhari appointed Zakari in an acting capacity.
More and more objections
A public analyst, Dr James Eze, said the appointment was unconstitutional. “The President knew that Jega was going to retire by June 30. Why didn’t he appoint someone at a substantive capacity? The constitution didn’t mention anything like Acting INEC chairman. What the President has done is unknown to the laws and a flagrant violation.”
He further challenged that since Zakari’s tenure ended by July 21; it amounted to “irregularity to ask her to stay a day longer. She should have been asked to go. What the President has done is to cover-up his illegal action with a quick appointment. That appointment does not nullify the expiration of Zakari’s tenure.”
Gbenga Ogunniran, a lawyer, also contended with the choice of Zakari. According to him: “President Buhari erred seriously in many ways. First, there is nothing like Acting INEC chairman either in the constitution or the Electoral Act. Where he got the contrivance is strange to our laws.
“Two, this woman is from Jigawa, the same political region with the President, for God’s sake. You cannot do that in a country with many states and people. Is Jega saying there are no good people to take charge of INEC outside his region? What we have is a situation where it appears the President is more interested in having someone malleable to him than serving the interest of the nation.”
Kudos for Buhari
But the Coalition of Progressive Political Parties (COPP) an umbrella body for 13 registered political parties in Nigeria berated the PDP for condemning the appointment of Zakari. In a statement by its national chairman, Mallam Bashir Ibrahim, the coalition decried what it described as “the dangerous precedent, whereby a political party is trying to decide for the country who becomes the INEC chairman”.
Ibrahim said: “Any interference by political parties in the appointment of INEC officials is tantamount to politicising the process and the commission itself, which is capable of creating dangerous schism in the commission and generating unnecessary tension in the country.
“INEC is an independent election management body which must be insulated from politics and irresponsible politicking. The power of and procedure for the appointment of the Chairman of INEC is a constitutional matter and not subject of bargaining by political parties, especially those who are yet to come to terms with the fact that Nigeria is on a very strong change trajectory.
“INEC is also a regulator of political parties. It is an anomaly for the parties, which the commission regulates, to dictate who the chairman becomes. Obviously, for some parties, it is still midnight.”
It added: “Mrs. Zakari was not appointed to the Commission by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. She was appointed as INEC National Commissioner by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 and by the time she was appointed acting INEC chairman, she had the distinction of being the most senior INEC National Commissioner in terms of time served.
“She is well educated and had served the commission as chairman of a number of its committees, including the sensitive Election and Political Party Monitoring Committee during President Jonathan’s administration.
“If she is good to be a national commissioner of INEC and chairman of its committees under President Jonathan, then she is good to be the Commission’s acting chairman at any other time.”
The Jonathan’s precedent
Checks revealed that Zakari is not the first to serve as acting chairman of INEC. Former INEC chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, refused to hand over to a national commissioner, Philip Umeadi. The duo had public spat. Former President Goodluck Jonathan went on to appoint Solomon Soyebi as acting chairman. That was on May 11, 2010.
A statement signed by the Secretary of the commission then, Alhaji Abdullahi Kaigama, said the appointment was in “conformity with Section 14 (1a) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Of the three National Commissioners serving in the Commission at the moment, only Prince Solomon Soyebi, who is over 50 years old, has met this requirement, hence the basis for his appointment.”
Before then, there was confusion in the commission. Iwu had been directed to hand over to the most senior commissioner in INEC. Chukwuani, who was the most senior commissioner, had retired with the ex-INEC boss. Of the remaining commissioners, Umeadi was the more senior.
But Iwu, who had a running battle with him, refused to hand over to Umeadi. He instead chose to be meeting with Kaigama and other senior staff to prepare his handover notes. He allegedly vowed he would never hand over to Umeadi. That was the situation until the appointment of Soyebi. He was the national commissioner in charge of Ogun State.
Zakari speaks
Reacting to controversies trailing her appointment, Zakari said: “My tenure would have expired on July 21st but my letter of appointment as Acting Chairman claimed categorically I should act pending when a new (substantive Chairman of the) Commission is put in place.”
On the controversy surrounding her appointment, she stated: “I think we should not distract ourselves from the issues at hand, I have been in the Commission, I am a National Commissioner, I passed through the Senate screening to become a National Commissioner, and by virtue of that I am appointed Acting Chairman in the Commission.
“So there shouldn’t have been much controversy. But be it as may, I have a job to do and I am set to do that job”.
Sagay, Keyamo, Ubani back appointment
Constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay, backed the appointment of Zakari. He said it followed the due course of the law. Sagay told our correspondent: “I find nothing wrong with the appointment. It is not a substantive appointment but in an acting capacity.”
Asked if there was provision for appointment of an acting INEC chairman, Sagay explained: “The law cannot make provisions for everything. As long as there is nothing that prohibits something, you can do it. When there is a vacuum, you have to fill it as long as you do not violate the constitution.”
He berated those calling for the removal of Zakari, wondering why they didn’t raise an eyebrow when former President Goodluck Jonathan suspended former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido, despite the fact that the constitution “made no provision for that.”
Human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, wondered what disqualifies Zakari from acting. By making her an acting chairman, Keyamo contended that President Buhari has not technically made any appointment. “Since she is acting, no appointment has been made technically. She is just there to fill a void. Her appointment in acting capacity will allow the President consult well before doing a final one,” Keyamo stated.
On the contention that the Federal Character Code has been breached by the appointment, Keyamo explained that would have been the case if there were two INEC national commissioners from the same zone or region. “But since this is in relation to the President, it does not count because they are not occupying the same position or working for the same body,”
Former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja chapter, Barrister Chima Ubani, also faulted the calls for the resignation of Zakari. He contended that the expiration of her tenure on July 21 only applied to her appointment as a national commissioner.
“What we have now is a new appointment that nullifies her former tenure. There is nothing wrong in her continuing until someone else is appointed or she’s considered worthy of becoming a substantive chairman,” Ubani argued.
He added that if the President has the right to appoint a substantive chairman, nothing stops him from appointing someone in an acting capacity.
Already, human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to nullify the appointment of Mrs. Zakari.
In his origination summons last week, brought pursuant to Sections 154 (1),(3), 155(1)C, 157 & 162 OF the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Adegboruwa said Zakari’s appointment was in flagrant violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
He joined President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney-General of the Federation as well as INEC as respondents.
Adegboruwa, in an affidavit in support of the application, stated that Zakari is not qualified to claim to be acting chairman of INEC as she was not appointed in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
He argued that her stay in INEC expired on July 21, 2015 and same cannot be renewed by the President via a letter without consultations with the Council of States and without confirmation of the Senate.
