Tinkering With A Report

Even as Nigerians await the White Paper on the Justice Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report, there are fears that most of the original recommendations may have been watered down for political reasons

 

 

By Oluokun Ayorinde /Abuja

On 9 March, on prime time television, Professor Dora Akunyili, Minister of Information, had cause to lecture the media on the virtue of patience. She was reacting to continuous speculation about the White Paper on Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee Report. Sounding like the archetypal colonial village teacher, she decried some media reports about deliberations on the White Paper which has been the single agenda in the past two sittings of the Federal Executive Council, FEC. “Even though the government has not finished its deliberations on some aspects of the report, the media has reached conclusions that the delay is due to disagreements and attempts to alter certain aspects of the report. This is not true,” the Information Minister said. Akunyili was obviously reacting to reports that the FEC has been tampering with the report of the Uwais Committee.

 

In reaction to the irregularities that characterised Nigeria’s last general election, President Umar Yar’Adua promised Nigerians that he was going to carry out a radical restructuring of the Nigerian electoral system when he was being sworn in on 27 May 2007. In fufilment of the promise, the President, on 28 August 2008, appointed a 22-member Electoral Reform Committee headed by Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, with the mandate of examining “the entire electoral process with a view to ensuring that we raise the quality and standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy”. In about three months of its sitting, the Justice Uwais Committee received 1,466 memoranda from inside and outside the country and held public hearings in 12 states and Abuja. The Committee submitted its final report to President Umaru Yar’Adua on 12 December 2008. Though the report has not been officially released to the public, it was however gathered that key among the Committee’s recommendation is the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The Committee recommended creation of three agencies – Electoral Offences Commission, a Constituency Delimitation Commission, and a Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission – to take over some of the current functions of INEC. It also recommended a change in the current method of appointing the Chairman of INEC to ensure greater independence for the organisation. The Electoral Reform Committee also recommended the re-introduction of independent candidature in all future elections and argued for proportional representation in elections for the legislature and local government councils.

  Recommending stiff punishments for electoral offences, the Committee banned cross-carpeting for office holders, and the inclusion of civil society groups in INEC. According to the 22-man Committee, only parties that scored at least 25 per cent in elections should be funded by INEC. And in realisation of the fact that most of the recommendations cannot be carried out without amendment of the 1999 Constitution, the Uwais Committee prepared three draft bills along with its report. These include a bill amending the 1999 Constitution, a bill to amend the 2006 Electoral Act, and a bill to establish the Electoral Offences Commission. After persistent agitations from civil society groups and politicians, President Umar Yar’Adua began to take steps to act on the report of the Uwais Committee some weeks ago.First, he set up a nine-member committee of the Federal Executive Council led by Minister of Defence, Dr. Shettima Mustapha. The committee which was saddled with the task of drafting a White Paper on the Uwais report has as Secretary Prof. Philip Ahire. Other members of the committee include the National Security Adviser, General Abdullahi Sarki Mukhtar; Minister of Police Affairs, Dr. Ibrahim Lame; his counterpart at the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Adamu Aliero; Minister of State for Petroleum, Odein Ajumogobia SAN, and the Permanent Secretary (GSO), Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed. Others are the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Mr. Japh Nwosu; and the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Abdullahi Ahmed Yola.

This magazine gathered that the Shettima-led committee accepted most of the recommendations in the Uwais report. These include a ban on decamping by political office holders. “Government understands cross-carpeting to mean the act of elected persons crossing from the political party on which platform they were elected to another political party while still serving. The provision also applies to independent candidates,” the draft White Paper stated.

The draft also agreed with the Uwais panel that all petitions must be concluded before an elected officer is sworn in and that any politician convicted for thuggery and other electoral offences is to be banned for 10 years from holding public office. The Shetimma draft also accepted the Uwais Committee’s recommendation on the unbundling of INEC and the re-introduction of independent candidates in elections. It was also gathered that the Shettima committee agreed that relevant provisions of the Electoral Act should be amended to create exception to the general legal rule which places the burden of proof in respect of allegation of election rigging on the party that alleges.

Instead, the electoral body, the committee said in its draft White Paper, should be made to prove it conducted the election fairly. The committee was also said to have rejected the recommendation that the National Judicial Council, NJC, should appoint INEC chairman after the position had been duly advertised. The most thorny of the recommendations has however been whose responsibility it is to appoint the Chairman of INEC. The Shetimma committee was reported to have endorsed the recommendation of the Uwais panel that the NJC should be the final appointing authority.

But it was gathered that this recommendation led to the setting up of another three-man committee led by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa, to review some sections of the document. It was learnt that the Aondoakaa committee wasted no time in jettisoning the recommendation that the INEC Chairman should be appointed by the NJC. Rather, Aondoakaa recommended that the appointment of INEC Chairman should still be made through nomination by the President, subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

The Aondoakaa committee disagreed with the proposal in the draft White Paper which concurred with the Uwais Panel that all petitions must be exhausted before an elected officer is sworn in. Instead, the three-man committee proposed that all election-related legal battles are to last for a maximum of six months – four months for trial and two months for appeal. The three-man review committee, according to a source, also agreed with the White Paper recommendation of the unbundling of INEC but disagreed with the inclusion of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, as one of the organisations to nominate a member to the board of INEC, saying, wrongly, that the NLC has a registered political party that now has a governor.

Also, while the Aondoakaa committee agreed with the nine-man ministerial White Paper drafting committee on independent candidature, it introduced a new clause that would compel such candidates to make financial deposit to be determined by INEC before he/she is eligible to contest the election. The deposit will be refunded to any such independent candidate if he or she wins a specified percentage of votes cast during the polls. The Aondoakaa committee also disagreed with the nine-man ministerial committee on the “burden of proof” on the allegation of rigging during elections. The Aondoakaa committee, it was gathered, insists that the general legal rule remains that the accuser must produce evidence at all times.

The Aondoakaa committee report was the subject of discussions at the FEC meetings of 25 February and 4 March respectively. Prof. Dora Akunyili had told anxious journalists at the end of the FEC meeting of 25 February that the government had already accepted and approved most of the recommendations in the White Paper but will only release the full report after it considered all other necessary details: “Justice Uwais Committee submitted their documents, a White Paper committee was nominated from the council, and this committee looked at it and presented its report today and after deliberating on it we stepped down some of the issues for another committee to look into it because government wants to be thorough about it. That committee is going to submit its report on Wednesday.”

Akunyili also denied insinuations that the government was foot-dragging over the implementation of the electoral reforms. “Definitely, you are going to have it (report) in full next week Wednesday. Government is not foot-dragging; we are going to come up with all the recommendations next week. Government wants to be thorough; we have accepted most of the recommendations. What is left is to reconcile existing areas with legislations. Those legislations are not necessarily legislations that touch on the Electoral Act but they operate side by side. So if we amend a particular law but there are other legislations that have taken note of such laws that existed and operated it, then there is going to be trouble,” she added.

It was learnt that FEC had, at the meeting, already accepted such recommendations as the reconstitution of INEC to include stakeholders from the civil society, Nigerian Bar Association, the media, women organisations, National Youth Council and Labour. Also accepted by FEC members at the meeting is the recommendation that independent candidates be allowed to stand for elections. The electoral commission will issue guidelines on this regularly. Other recommendations of the Uwais panel accepted by FEC at its 25 February meeting, it was gathered, include that election results should be announced at polling centres by presiding officers, while result sheets must be duly signed and given to all accredited agents and security agencies present at the polling booth.

FEC members also accepted recommendations that monetary grants should only be given to political parties that get up to 5 per cent of the total votes cast during elections. Another key decision accepted is the setting up of a Centre for Democratic Studies, CDS, for political education. However, after six hours on Wednesday 4 March, FEC members were still unable to come out with a White Paper on the electoral reforms. Indeed, there were insinuations that the cabinet members were spilt on the report. “We want to bring out a paper that we will be able to defend today and tomorrow. The cabinet is not split at all. We have almost finalised the deliberations. By next week, we will come out with the final document. Please have patience. It is just six or seven days,” the Information Minister said when confronted by journalists. The foot dragging by FEC has given birth to various speculations. There are also fears that the recommendations of the Uwais panel may be watered down to give the ruling PDP an edge over other political parties in the 2011 elections. This is especially as regards the appointment of Chairman of INEC.

However, speculations about what Yar’Adua and his cabinet members have been up to reached new heights penultimate weekend with newspaper reports that the Aondoakaa committee had recommended the extension of the tenure of the President in the guise of allowing him to conclude the reform of the country’s electoral process. As reported by The Punch, the panel headed by Aondoakaa recommended that Yar’Adua remain in office till 2013 in a six-year tenure arrangement. The newspaper added that this was responsible for the stalemate over the White Paper at the two FEC meetings. Akunyili’s appearance on television last Monday was in response to the uproar the report of the tenure extension generated. But in spite of several minutes of ramblings, the Minister was unable to categorically deny that any plot of tenure extension is in the offing.

But Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, of Nigeria has already urged President Yar’Adua to reject the tenure extension recommendation. HURIWA also called for the immediate sack of the Justice Minister for his alleged plot to undermine the 1999 Constitution, which he swore to protect and respect while calling on the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, to impose sanctions on Aondoakaa if the story of tenure extension recommendation turned out to be true.

In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in Abuja last Monday, HURIWA asked Nigerians to get ready to scuttle the tenure extension plan. The rights group said in the statement that it “will join hands with all lovers of Nigeria through legitimate means within the confines of the rule of law to ensure that the current evil plot to extend the constitutionally guaranteed tenure of any of the political office holder does not see the light of the day because the actualisation of tenure extension under any guise could spell doom for corporate Nigeria.”

Other recommendations of the Aondoakaa Committee have also come under focus, with the fear that the Yar’Adua administration’s much vaunted electoral reform will be truncated if the report is made the basis of the action. “I think we are again bewildered witnesses to another tragic reversal in the making of democracy in Nigeria. First, I doubt that the Uwais Commission ever contemplated a situation such as has emerged where its very thorough work of collating and distilling the views of Nigerians across the nation could simply be overturned by a panel of three or so members of the Federal Executive Council,” noted Yemi Osibajo, former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, in a recent interview.

The legal icon noted that Aondoakaa’s main concern, as reflected in the report, seems to be how the ruling party can continue its stay in office, aided by the imperfect Nigerian electoral system just like former President Obasanjo did. “It is evident that all the recommendations which the committee turned down were those which clearly would make executive control of INEC more difficult and rigging of elections easier to unravel in court and less rewarding for its perpetrators. The rejection of the recommendation that the INEC chair be appointed by a process conducted by the National Judicial Council and ratified by the legislature is retrogressive, especially when the committee’s counter proposal is essentially maintenance of the status quo,” noted Osibajo.

“Again, the rejection of the well thought out recommendation to place the burden on INEC to show that elections were conducted in compliance with the law disregards INEC’s tendency to support every election result and fight the petitioner alongside the respondents even in the most obviously bad cases. In any event, INEC is almost always complicit in malpractices and irregularities,” he added.

Also reacting to the recommendation of the review committee, the Alliance for Credible Elections said it seems the President and the ruling PDP are already preparing to rig the 2011 elections. “By rigging the report of the ERC, the Federal Executive Council has already started the rigging of 2011 elections. We warn that by hindering a genuine reform of the electoral system, the Executive Council is already laying the foundation for bloody elections in 2011,” the organisation said in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Mr. Emma Ezeazu.

Former Head of State and presidential candidate of All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in the 2003 and 2007 elections, General Muhammadu Buhari, last Monday in Lagos noted that the Federal Government had not effectively addressed the report of the Justice Muhammadu Uwais-led National Electoral Reform Committee.

He said the Yar’Adua administration has not shown enough sincerity about the promised electoral reforms. “Last week, the Federal Executive Council sat on the report and no conclusion was reached on the White Paper report. The paper is about to be rigged. This shows the insincerity of government. Does anyone think that with the kind of INEC we have, any reform can work? The Peoples Democratic Party had consistently said that they would rule for 60 years and that they were ready to crush all opposition parties; they are confident about this because of the kind of INEC we have,” noted Buhari.

True to Akunyili’s promise, the federal government came up with its approved recommendations on Wednesday last week. Among others, it agreed that only parties with 5% of votes cast in election can get grants, agreed to 10-year ban for convicted politicians and that parties must disclose their source of finding. The federal government also agreed to the unbundling of INEC and establishment of an autonomous INEC, just as it approved independent candidature. It resolved that instead of five, Tribunal judges should be just three.

Significantly, the federal government kicks against the existence of State Electoral Commissions and will want them abolished sooner than later, whereas it adopted open secret ballot system. Perhaps the most significant of all, the President wants to retain the power to appoint the INEC Chairman, whereas the Uwais Committee had recommended in its report that the National Judicial Council should nominate the INEC boss to ensure the neutrality of the chief electoral arbiter.

Did you Enjoy this story? you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Random Post

• August 18, 2008 -- A Contentious Report (0)
• June 8, 2009 -- ‘Tithe Is Not For Church Building’—Pastor Bailey (8)
• July 21, 2008 -- An Unpopular Order (0)
• March 3, 2008 -- Argungu Embraces The World (1)
• January 26, 2009 -- KADUNA /End Of The Road For Ruthless Gang (0)
• October 27, 2008 -- Global Leaders (0)
• February 22, 2010 -- Sanusi Unveils CBN’s Next Phase Of Banking Reforms (0)
• December 7, 2009 -- Life Assurance Minimises Worry Minimises (0)
• March 31, 2008 -- Ticket To Beijing (1)
• November 3, 2008 -- Cabbing In Style (0)

No tags for this post.

Related posts

• No related posts.