INDICATIONS are that the 2023 general election may be threatened, as there is palpable tension in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as reports revealed that the Election and Political Parties’ Monitoring, (EPM), and Legal Department of the Commission, have become theatres of intrigues, following political parties and politicians preying on both units to perfect their underhand ploys.
It was gathered that there has been continued push by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership to ensure participation of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and former Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, in the 2023 senatorial elections of Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial districts, respectively.
The INEC had told Nigerians that the Commission is legally bound to stand by the monitoring reports received from “our state offices”. But contrary to this pledge, verified pieces of information available to the media suggest that INEC may have ignored these reports in some states of the federation like Kano, Sokoto, Abia, Ogun, Oyo and Akwa lbom.
This has not gone down well with some Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs). In fact, the morale of staff at the Commission in some of the state offices has been dampened because some of the reports of the monitoring committees are either being tampered with or ignored.
As a result of this, INEC has instituted and encouraged many litigations in various federal high courts across the country. Checks revealed that the Commission acknowledged that there are over 300 cases filed in court that it is joined as a party.
According to Vanguard, sources at INEC headquarters revealed that the Commission accepted from leadership of the APC, particulars of candidates that claimed to have conducted primaries that its state offices did not monitor.
For instance, in Kano State, where the REC, Professor Risikuwa Shehu-Arabu, addressed the press recently, the only governorship primary the state office monitored produced Mohammed Abacha, son of late maximum dictator, General Sani Abacha, but this was changed by People Democratic Party (PDP) leadership and INEC’s EPM Department for one Ambassador Sadiq Wali.
In Yobe, where the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has tried unsuccessfully so far, with APC leadership, to intimidate Bashir Sheriff Machina, winner of the senatorial election to step down, other forces have been mobilised, with a view to getting the name of the Senate President on the ballot.
The Vanguard reports also revealed that there were attempts made to persuade the immediate past REC in Yobe, Ahmed Makama, who had served as a special adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to endorse as received, a letter dated June 7, 2022, instead of its original which had a June 22, 2022, date, when the letter allegedly got to the Yobe office of INEC from the leadership of the APC.
This happened before the REC handed over on expiration of his tenure last month. Makama rebuffed all entreaties.
The letter would have suggested that the APC leadership had earlier given indication to INEC that a fresh senatorial primary was in the offing as early as June 7, 2022, wherein the Senate President may have participated in a primary monitored by INEC as stipulated by law.
In essence, the letter itself would have created an impossible scenario as Senator Lawan was contesting for the presidential ticket at the party’s convention in Abuja at about June 7, 2022.
Under Section 84(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, monitoring of party primaries by INEC is mandatory. The Act used the word, shall, twice, to underscore the importance.
It states: “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Act shall hold primaries for aspirants to all elective positions which shall be monitored by the commission.”
Section 29(1) of the 2022 Act provides that only “candidates that emerged from valid primary” can be submitted to INEC for publication.
Section 84(13) states that where a political party fails to comply with the provision of the Act, INEC shall reject the names submitted to it by political parties.
Reacting to the development, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said: “The commission is not under obligation to publish the name of any candidate not validly elected in a properly organised primary election monitored by INEC. It’s in the Electoral Act 2022.”
