Unfolding electoral reforms and 2019 general elections

I am excited and very pleased with the success that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has recorded so far on electoral reform, ahead of the 2019 general elections. The journey has been very rough and tortuous. In my opinion piece of May 16, 2018, I expressed worry about three major impediments to a credible 2019 elections. They are the weak legal framework, late funding of the electoral management body and insecurity.

It would be recalled that, unlike the last constitutional alteration attempt made in 2015 and thwarted due to the then President Goodluck Jonathan’s veto of  the amendments, the one embarked on by the eight National Assembly has succeeded as President Buhari has signed five out of the 12 constitutional amendment bills passed on to him for assent.

The 12 bills were sent to the President by the Senate on April 17, 2018, according to Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Lawan.  The first bill was the Not Too Young To Run Bill signed on Thursday, May 31, 2018. Also, on Friday, June 8, 2018, President Buhari signed four other bills. The two bills that have direct impact on the forthcoming 2019 elections are Constitution Amendment No. 21, which relates to determination of pre-election matters. The new bill has reduced the days and time of determining pre-election matter to ensure that disputes in courts do not get into the time of election.

The President also signed Bill No. 9, which gives the Independent National Electoral Commission sufficient time to conduct run-off elections. The number of days set aside for the conduct of such polls have been increased from seven to 21.

It would be recalled that 33 bills seeking to alter constitutional provisions were voted on in the two chambers of the National Assembly on July 26 and 27, 2017, respectively. Both chambers approved 17 of the bills without any difference and they were transmitted to the State Houses of Assembly for their concurrence in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Only 12 of the 17 have so far gotten the required two-third majority support of the SHA. I do hope the President will assent to the remaining seven bills that have the required support.

Unlike the last aborted exercise, when all the constitutional amendments were in one bill, the National Assembly was very smart this time around by having all the issues identified for alterations as separate bills. By this move, if Mr.President decides to veto a bill, it will not negatively affect the fate of others.

Just like the 2010 successful constitutional amendments exercise, which has assisted in deepening our democratic culture, the current amendments will do same. Let me refresh our memory about the far reaching impact of the last successful amendment of the Constitution in Nigeria.

It was the 2010 constitutional alterations that granted the Independent National Electoral Commission financial and administrative autonomy. The alterations also reduced the qualification age for the position of INEC chairman from 50 to 40 years and that of National Commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners from 40 to 35 years.

The 2010 exercise also made it mandatory for Resident Electoral Commissioners to be screened by the Senate. Before then, RECs were directly appointed by the President without the Senate’s approval. Only National Commissioners and INEC Chairman go through the screening exercise.

During the 2010 amendments, the number of judges appointed to Election Petition Tribunals was reduced from five to three, the time limit for post-election dispute resolution was fixed with a maximum of 180 days placed on the tribunals and a 60-day limit placed on appeals to Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Before 2010, all governorship election petitions ended at the Court of Appeal, but the amendments made it possible for disputes arising from the governorship election to terminate at the Supreme Court.

It was also the 2010 constitutional alteration of  section 145 that made it mandatory for Presidents going on vacation or medical trips abroad to hand over to the Vice President. Otherwise, after a timeline the Vice President takes over the mantle of leadership of the country in acting capacity. This is to lay to rest the confusion and controversies often generated by failure on the part of an incumbent President to hand over power to the Vice President, as witnessed when former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua travelled abroad for medical treatment in November 2009.

The 2010 amendment also clearly stated that any incumbent President or governor, whose election was annulled and subsequently won a re-run election, will have his tenure counting from the date of the first inauguration and not when he wins a re-run. These provisions helped in no small measure to turn the tide of our election positively as attested to by local and international election observer groups in 2011 and 2015.

As mentioned earlier, I am very confident that the five newly signed constitutional amendment bills will help to deepen our democracy. Four out of the five bills are election related. They include the Not Too Young to Run bill, the bill increasing the number of days for INEC to conduct a run-off election in the event that the first ballot fails to produce a clear winner between seven and 21 days, the bill putting a time limit on the resolution of pre-election disputes and the bill banning any Vice President or deputy governor, who serve out the time left from their principal’s tenure, from contesting more than once. The only bill that is not directly related to elections is the one granting financial autonomy to State Judiciary and the State Houses of Assembly.

The Not Too Young To Run bill, which has reduced the age qualification for president from 40 to 35 years, as well as reduced the age qualification for House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly from 30 to 25 years, has effectively ensured that any youth who desires to contest for those positions can step forward. This is about inclusivity in the electoral process. A time limit for pre-election matters will put an end to the current scenario where courts are nullifying the election of some political office holders on the ground that they were not the aspirants that won at the party primaries.

The most recent of such cases was the Wednesday, June 13, 2018 nullification of the election of the Senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District, Attai Aidoko, of the Peoples Democratic Party on the basis that the December 7, 2014 primary election of the party was actually won by Air Marshal Isaac Alfa (Retd.). This is a judgment coming three years into the current administration.  Of course, it is heartwarming that INEC now has more time to prepare for run-off elections, while the judiciary and legislature now have financial autonomy.

I am also thrilled that the Senate on Thursday, June 7, 2018 passed the Independent National Electoral Commission Act Amendment Bill without the clause that seeks to reshuffle the order of polls in a general election. Its passage by the Senate was in concurrence with the House of Representatives, which had earlier passed an edited version of the bill. Clauses on which President Buhari based the withdrawal of his assent to the bill, including that of polls reordering, were removed from the second version.

I am optimistic that all electoral reform issues can be laid to rest this month with the President’s assent on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The import of this is that INEC will be able to plan better for the next general elections. In addition, public education and capacity building on the provisions of the new electoral reforms can kick off in earnest well ahead of 2019 polls. I enjoin all relevant stakeholders to do the needful by faithfully implementing these new legal provisions that is set to strengthen our democratic norms and values.