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Tag: Electoral Act

Saraki names conference committee on electoral reforms Bill

Senate President Bukola Saraki yesterday announced a six-man committee of senators to reconcile the Senate’s version of the amended Electoral Act with the version passed by the House of Representatives.

The Senate’s conference committee has the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Suleiman Nazif, as Chairman.

Other members of the committee are Senators Shehu Sani, Biodun Olujimi, Hope Uzodinma, Dino Melaye and Peter Nwaoboshi.

The committee is expected to meet with the House of Representatives to harmonise the version of the amended electoral bill before being sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.

The Senate had in 2017 passed an amended version of the 2010 Electoral Act.

While the House of Representatives Tuesday amended the Electoral Act to change the order of 2019 general elections’ time table. This came barely a month after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the time-table for the general elections.

With the amendment, the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls and presidential election to be conducted last.

January 26, 2018
Senate gets committee on Electoral Act

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Thursday announced a six-man committee to reconcile the Senate’s version of the amended Electoral Act with the version passed by the House of Representatives.

The Senate’s conference committee has the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Suleiman Nazif, as chairman.

Other members of the committee are – Senators Shehu Sani, Biodun Olujimi, Hope Uzodinma, Dino Melaye and Peter Nwaoboshi.

The committee is expected to meet with the House of Representatives to harmonise the version of the amended electoral bill before being sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent.

The Senate had in 2017 passed an amended version of the 2010 Electoral Act.

While the House of Representatives had on Tuesday amended the Electoral Act to change the 2019 general elections time table.

This came barely a month after the INEC released the time table for the general elections.

With the amendment, the National Assembly election will take place first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls.

The presidential election will be conducted last.

The amendment was made at the Committee of the whole House, presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun.

January 25, 2018
2019: Reps change order of elections

The House of Representatives on Tuesday amended the Electoral Act to change the order of 2019 general elections’ time table.

This came barely a month after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the time-table for the general elections.

With the amendment, the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls and presidential election to be conducted last.

The amendment was made at the Committee of the whole House, presided by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Yussuff Lasun.

The lawmakers amended the Act while considering the report of the House Committee on Electoral Matters which proposed amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

In the time-table released by INEC, Presidential and National Assembly elections were to hold first, while governorship and state assembly would follow.

The House amended section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

According to the section, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly election (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections (c) Presidential election.

Similarly, section 87 was amended by adding a new section 87 (11) with a marginal note “time for primaries of political parties”.

“The primaries of political parties shall follow the following sequence (i) State House of Assembly (ii) National Assembly (iii) Governorship, and (iv), President.

“The dates for the above stated primaries shall not be held earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices.”

The House also amended section 36 to allow running mate of candidate that dies before the conclusion of elections inherit his votes and continue with the process.

Section 35 which states that if before an election a candidate dies, he will be replaced by the next contestant with the highest vote was also amended.

The amendment indicated that if a nominated candidate died in the election process, the next person from the same political party with the second highest votes in the primary election should replace the deceased.

It stated that the name of the new person should be submitted to INEC, which should accept such replacement as if the deceased was alive.

The House also made an increment in the limitation of election expenses to be incurred by candidates for presidential candidates from N1 billion to N5 billion.

It raised the governorship bill from N200 million to N1 billion, while Senatorial and Representatives candidates’ expenses are not to exceed N100 million and N70 million, respectively.

For State Assembly and local government chairmanship elections, candidates’ expenses had been raised from N10 million to N30 million while councillorship candidates ceiling was raised from N1 million to N5 million.

Similarly, individual contribution had been jerked up from N1 million to N10 million. (NAN)

January 24, 2018
Why Senate amended Electoral Act, says Saraki

Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Thursday expressed confidence that the recent amendments to the Electoral Act will strengthen the country’s electoral process and make it conform with the international best practices.

Saraki noted that when assented to, the amendments will eliminate rigging, violence and other forms of malpractices associated with the electoral process in the country.

The Senate President in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Mohammed Isa, spoke while receiving a delegation of Safran IS, an international biometric and identity management company that visited him in Abuja.

Saraki said, “I believe the amendments will strengthen our electoral processes, particularly at the transmission of results to the various stages of collation.

“We made a lot of progress with the introduction of the Card Reader during the 2015 general elections and it is our commitment and determination to improve on that during subsequent elections.

“One of the things that I think is the big issue during election is in the area of transmission of results, and it has been something that we need to improve on and we need to get that done before 2019.

“I am confident that if we can get the electronic transmission right, we will begin to have an election process that can compete with what obtains in any other part of the world.

“We want a situation that as soon as results are announced at polling units, we should be able to receive them across board. I think when we are able to do that, the challenge associated with physical result transmission would be a thing of the past.”

He expressed the readiness of the Senate to partner with any organization that could provide the right solutions, and requested Safran to collaborate with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and support their initiative.

The leader of the delegation, Ms Jessica Van Meeteren explained that based on their experiences and successes in similar jobs in other countries, Safran IS possesses the required technology and technical know-how to provide Nigeria with the solutions.

Meeteren said the company had undertaken similar jobs in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, India, Chile among others.

May 18, 2017
Socialist Party faults Senate amendment of Electoral Act

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has faulted the Senate amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment Bill 2017), saying it fell short of the expectation of vast majority of Nigerians, who have been disenfranchised because of the heavy monetisation of politics.
In a statement by its National Secretary, Mr. Chinedu Bosah, the SPN said politics has been the preserve of the rich and the powerful for too long. He said the poor masses that often bear the brunt of mis-governance, corruption and anti-people policies of the pro-rich parties that dominate the political space also deserve an opportunity to form political parties and contest elections on the basis of their own independent ideas and programmes.
He called for an overhaul of the country’s electoral laws and a firm policy against monetisation of the electoral process, starting with the removal of the onerous requirements for party registration, including the N1 million processing fee usually demanded by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Bosah added: “We also demand the scrapping of Section 223 (b) of the 1999 Constitution which suggests that a political party must have a national character. As far as we are concerned, there is no reason why a party cannot start small in a small local government or in a state or region where it has root and grow nationally on the basis of its gradual electoral success. We also demand the recognition of independent candidacy.
“Unfortunately, instead of supporting steps to deepen our democracy, reactionary parties like the Democratic People’s Congress (DPC) are calling for stiffer conditions for the registration of political parties, with a proposal that Section 78, subsections 3 and 4 of the Electoral Act be amended. This kind of proposal shows just how desperate the ruling elite are to even further attack the limited democratic rights guaranteed in the constitution and the Electoral Act.
“One area the ruling class does not want to give up is the monetisation of politics. No doubt, politics is heavily monetised, a conscious policy that makes it easier for the rich to dominate politics, while it is extremely difficult for workers and the poor to fully participate in politics.
“Part of the amendment introduced by the Senate is to end the common practice of political parties charging arbitrary nomination fees on political aspirants beyond the stipulated limits of N150,000 for Ward Councillorship; N250,000 for Council Chairmanship; N500,000 for House of Assembly aspirants; N1,000,000 for House of Representatives aspirants; N2,000,000 for a senatorial aspirant; N5,000,000 for governorship aspirant; and N10,000,000 for Presidential aspirants.”
Bosah demanded an amendment that will end the monetisation of politics and undermine the overbearing influence of the privileged few on politics, including but not limited to banning political parties from charging all manners of fees.
He said there can be no genuine democracy when the vast majority cannot participate in decision-making within the party and their interest is not protected by the state.

April 25, 2017
Senate lauds enhancement of powers of ECOWAS Parliament

The Senate Wednesday hailed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for enhancing the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.

The upper chamber resolved to congratulate the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government as well as well as the ECOWAS Parliament on the milestone.

It also pressed for the amendment of the Electoral Act to empower the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct election to fill Nigerian’s 35 seats at the Community Parliament.

The resolutions were sequel to a motion sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu Wednesday.

Ekweremadu who is also a former Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament, recalled that although the Parliament was established in 2000 sequel to the Article 13 of the 1993 Revised Treaty of ECOWAS, and ECOWAS Protocol A/P2/8/94 of 1994, the Parliament had existed only as a mere advisory body.

He further recalled that while previous efforts to enhance the powers of the Community Parliament had failed, the 3rd Legislature of the Parliament, which he headed as the Speaker, championed a robust advocacy for the actualisation of this project, “including coming up with a Draft Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the Community Parliament to bring the institution to the international best standards”.

The Deputy Senate President, however, regretted that despite the adoption of the Supplementary Act by the 46th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of the State and Government in Abuja in December 2014, the 47th Ordinary Session of the Authority had failed to sign, to bring it into force in Accra in May 2015, before the expiration of the 3rd Legislature.

He commended the 4th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament for continuing with the relentless efforts (take this out :towards) to enhance the powers of the Parliament, and described as a thing of “immense joy” to the peoples of West Africa, the “eventual endorsement of the ECOWAS Supplementary Act A/SA/1/12/16 by the 50th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja in December 2016”.

On the implications of the enhanced powers of the institution, he said the Supplementary Act now bestows on the Community Parliament enhanced competences, (take out namely) such as involvement in the enactment of all Community Acts, adoption of the Community Budget, and powers of oversight function.

Ekweremadu called on the Senate to note in particular the provision for the election of Community Parliamentarians by direct adult suffrage by Article 18 of the Supplementary Act provides, a situation, he said, called for the amendment of the Electoral Act of Nigeria to empower the INEC to conduct the election of the Nigeria Country Delegation into the Parliament when that Article comes into effect.

Summing up the debate on the motion, which was was seconded by the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Ibn N’Allah (Kebbi South), the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, described the enhancement of powers of the Parliament as “historic and very commendable”

He added: “We want to thank all those that worked towards it, especially our own Deputy President of the Senate and the leadership of the ECOWAS Parliament.

“This is something we should all be proud of. It is a victory, not only for the legislative democracy, but I think the coming together of the ECOWAS body to a more people-oriented and focused assembly. We charge the regional body to take advantage of this to ensure that they continue to work for the actualisation of regional integration”.

March 1, 2017
Edo poll: Tribunal throws out YDP petition

The Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal on Thursday threw out one of the petitions filed by the Young Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Nurudeen Inwanfero, for abuse of court process.

It said the YDP failed to comply with paragraph 29 of the Electoral Act by filling the necessary application before the tribunal seeking to discontinue with the first petition it filed.

Candidate of the YDP, Nurudeen Inwanfero, had in his petition asked the tribunal to cancel the entire September 28election because the party’s logo was not included in the ballot papers used for the election.

The petitioners filed petitions number one and three and it filed notice of discontinue for petition number one but the tribunal held that filing of petition number three was abuse of court process.

Ruling on the application filed by Governor Godwin Obaseki through his lead Counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, the three-man panel earlier granted leave of the respondent to argue the application outside the pre-hearing session.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ahmed Badamasi, who read the ruling said it was clear that there are two same petitions from the petitioners before the tribunal.

Justice Badamasi held that there was nothing to show that the notice of discontinuous was filed by the petitioners and described it as vague and incompetence.

Badamasi therefore struck out petition number three and all pending applications against the petition.

Attempts by the petitioners’ Counsel, Ugo Nwofor, to request for adjournment to enable him put his ‘House in order’ rejected by the respondents’ Counsels.

Nwofor stated that it was in the interest of justice for the tribunal to grant the adjournment to allow him time put things together in respect of petition number one.

Olanipekun urged the tribunal to remove the life support on the petition as there was no application for extension of time before the tribunal.

Justice Badamasi adjourned sitting to December 13 for ruling on whether petition number one still has merit.

December 8, 2016
Senate pegs 14 days for replacement of dead candidate

In its continuation of the amendment of the Electoral Act, the Senate Thursday resolved that fresh primary election should be held within 14 days to replace a presidential of governorship candidate who dies before the announcement of the result of the election.

The resolution may have laid to rest the controversy over who succeeds a dead presidential or governorship candidate who dies before the announcement of the result of an election.

The upper chamber also adopted the proposal that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall suspend the conduct of a new election for 21 days when the death of a candidate is recorded after the commencement of an election and before the announcement of result.

The new provisions were provoked by the sudden death of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu, at the November 21, 2015 governorship election in Kogi State.

Audu died before the announcement of the election result.

The development generated legal tussle which was contested from the high court to the Supreme Court as Audu’s running mate, Hon. James Faleke, insisted the he was the right person inherit the votes of the deceased principal.

Following the lacuna, a new Section 3 (a-c) has been inserted into the proposed Electoral Act which provides:

“If after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a nominated candidate dies, (a ) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days; (b) the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh direct primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to the Commission to replace the dead candidate; and (c) subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, the Commission shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare a winner.”

The new bill also provides a legal backing for the use of manual voting in situations where card readers malfunction during election.

Although the manual option has always been adopted as an alternative to the malfunctioning of card readers, the new provision is meant to make the action legally valid.

The card reader which is mainly used for accreditation of voters, the amendment provides that once the presiding officer at the election is convinced that the intending voter is the owner of the voter card, he should go ahead to accredit him.

Section 49(1-4) of the Electoral Act being amended provides: “The Presiding Officer shall use a Smart Card Reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission from time to time for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate (a) the genuineness or otherwise of the voter’s card; (b) that the voter’s card presented by the voter is registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented; (c) the biometric connection or otherwise of the intending voter with the voter’s card; and (d) the number of duly accredited voters in the polling unit.

“(3) An intending voter shall not be accredited to vote in an election if the voter’s card presented by him to the Presiding Officer is not (a) a genuine voter’s card issued by the Commission to the intending voter; (b) registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented, and (c) biometrically connected to the intending voter.

“(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) (c) of this section, the Presiding Officer on being satisfied that an intending voter is the owner of the voter’s card, may accredit the intending voter to vote in the election.”

The Senate did not pass the bill yesterday because it did not conclude its clause-by-clause consideration.

The bill was deferred for further consideration next week.

Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki pleaded with his colleagues to read the remaining provisions of the bill to ensure its seamless passage.

December 1, 2016
Amendment of Electoral Act suffers set back in Senate

Attempts by the Senate to amend the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to cure certain mischief identified in the electoral system suffered set back in the Senate Wednesday.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senator Abubakar Kyari, presented report of his committee on the requested amendments.

It was apparent that the issues tabled for amendment were too hot for the senators to handle.

After about two-hour debate, Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, was forced to send the report back to the committee to seek answers to some thorny issues.

Essentially, Senators failed to agree on who should succeed a candidate of a political party who died before the announcement of an election result.

The lawmakers specifically referred to the last Kogi State governorship election describing it as “the Kogi mischief.”

The committee recommended in Clause 6 to amend Section 36 of the Electoral Act by inserting a new subsection (3) which provides for the substitution of a candidate of a political party who dies before the declaration of the result of the election with the first runner up in the party’s primaries (which was won by the deceased candidate).

Many Senators were vehemently opposed to the recommendation.

Those opposed to the recommendation wondered why the running mate to the deceased candidate should not be allowed to succeed his principal.

They argued that since a candidate could only be deemed to have been validly nominated if he has a running mate, it is natural that the running mate should succeed his principal in the event of death of the principal.

But those who supported the recommendation insisted that allowing the running mate to take over from his principal could serve unintended purposes for an ambitious running mate who could go after the life of his principal knowing that he stood to benefit in the event of the death of his principal.

The proposed amendment also included amendment of a paragraph of Section 49 of the Electoral Act, with regard to the processes of voter accreditation using Smart Card Reader introduced by INEC in the 2015 General Election.

The amendment also sought to insert criminal penalty for a member of a political party who misrepresent his status for the purpose of being engaged in INEC; replacement of a candidate at an election who dies between commencement of polls and declaration of the result of the election; proceeding with an election where there is only one valid nomination, criminal penalty for obtaining registration of a political party fraudulently and granting INEC power to overrule manipulation of result of primaries by party officials.

Senator Kyari noted in the report that the sad demise of Prince Abubakar Audu a former Governor of Kogi State, just before the announcement of the result of the last governorship election in Kogi State, brought to focus a major lacuna in the law that required quick legislative action.

He noted that it was therefore discussed that Section 36 of the Electoral Act should be amended with respect to the death of a nominated candidate who dies before the declaration of the result of an election.

On direct party primary system, Kyari said it is a known fact that party primaries system have led to instances where elected public leaders are removed by Tribunals or Courts and replaced by candidates who were adjudged to be the winner of the party primaries but were not voted for by the public.

The committee also recommended in Clause 2 to amend Section 8 of the Electoral Act by inserting a new subsection (5) which prescribes imprisonment of at least five years or a fine of at least N5 million, or both for a member of a political party who is guilty of misrepresenting himself in order to secure an appointment with INEC.

In Clause 10 to amend Section 49 of the Act with regards to the use of Smart Card Readers and other technological devices for elections by INEC.

In Clause 17 to amend subsection 78(5) of the Act with regards to provision of false and misleading information by an Association to INEC for purpose of registration as a political party.

After listening to the discordant views especially on the death of a nominated candidate of a political party who died before the declaration of the result of an election, Saraki sent the report back to the committee to conduct more legislative enquiry into the matter with a view to arriving at acceptable position.

November 2, 2016
Edo 2016: Group calls for strengthening of Electoral Act

As the September 10 gubernatorial election in Edo State approaches, a call has been made for the strengthening of the nation’s Electoral Act with a view to discouraging election rigging.

Dr. Oyebade Olowogboyega, made the call in Benin, the state capital on Tuesday, at the lunching of a one man, one woman, one vote campaign, organised by the Edo State chapter of the Democracy Vanguard.

He advocated implementation of the 1958 Electoral Act, which stipulated five year jail term for politicians convicted for rigging elections.

“The 1958 electoral act that was left by the colonial masters had a provision that criminalised election rigging or election malpractice. Whoever was caught and convicted would be banned for five years and would not benefit from holding any political office or any sensitive post in the federation.

“But that has been watered down in the electoral act, and until we ban whoever is convicted of election malpractice, we will never have free and fair election in this country‎,” he said.

Olowogboyega noted that Nigeria has perpetually failed to address the issue of election rigging during successive revisions of the nation’s Constitution, but has watered down penalties of election rigging and has made election rigging lucrative.

Spartan Republic where a thief is punished, not for stealing but for allowing himself to be caught.

In his speech, the National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, Comrade Adeola Soetan, noted that it is a good thing that everyone wants a free, fair and credible election.

Alluding to the basic definition of democracy, Comrade Soetan said the people are supreme in the democratic process.

‎ He said the organisation will educate the electorate against voting on the basis of ethnicity or any other basis, but to vote based on their conscience.

According to him, the essence of the programme is to ‎bring all stakeholders in the Edo governorship election together with a view ‎ensuring that a free, fair, credible and conclusive election is achieved on September 10.

‎Earlier in his welcome address, the state General Secretary of Democracy Vanguard, Mr. Mike Iyobosa Okuns, said the essence of the programme was to educate the electorate on the importance of free and fair election.

He said for election to be free and fair, every eligible electorate must be willing to go out to the polling centres, get accredited, vote and ensure that his vote counts.

‎Iyobosa Okuns said the we must henceforth ensure that all elections are free, fair, credible and conclusive.

Speaking on the role of police in a free, fair, credible and conclusive election, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, who was represented by SP Okafor Moses, assured that the police, in collaboration with other sister security agencies, will ensure election devoid of crisis.

According to him, arrangements have been put in place to ensure adequate deployment of security personnel to ensure ‎safety of INEC officials, the electorate‎ and other stakeholders.

August 9, 2016