Attempts at further amending the 2010 Electoral Act by the 8th National Assembly failed as President Muhammadu Buhari vetoed the amendment bill four times. JOSHUA EGBODO writes the renewed zeal of the current House of Representatives to get it passed again.
Prior to winding down the 8th assembly of the House of Representatives, a lot happened that raised concerns over the expected success of the 2019 general elections. Efforts were made to improve on the gains recorded through reforms introduced under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime as prelude to the 2015 elections.
What the parliament did
According to former Senate President, and chairman of the 8th National Assembly, Dr Bukola Saraki, work on the essential alteration to the act begun early enough, with the intent to getting it ready before the general elections of 2019. He argued in defence of the amendment that it was rather to enhance the electoral process, if well applied by the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We started work on this law (Electoral Act) since 2016 to prevent a situation where it would become part of the election controversies. What we have done with that bill is to raise the level of transparency, credibility and acceptability of our electoral process.
“We made sure that if the law is assented to and honestly applied by INEC and all those concerned, it will give us an election that will be better than what we had in 2015″, he stated.
Buahri’s issues with the amendment bill
President Buhari severally withheld assent to the bill, one of such being the attempt at reordering the election sequence as against the one earlier announced by INEC. After dousing election sequence controversy, President Buhari in declining assent to further adjustments on the Bill, in a letter to the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, dated December 6, 2018, and conveying his latest decline in assenting to the bill, said “pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the House of Representatives, my decision to decline presidential assent to the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill 2018 recently passed by the National Assembly”.
According to the president, he was “concerned that passing a new electoral bill this far into the electoral process for the 2019 general elections which commenced under the 2015 Electoral Act, could create some uncertainty about the applicable legislation to govern the process. Any real or apparent change to the rules this close to the election may provide an opportunity for disruption and confusion in respect of which law governs the electoral process”.
Implications of the president’s assertion here was that the latest outcome from the National Assembly, which was fallout of earlier veto which the parliament sought to address, was too close to the election, and that if enacted may leave INEC and its officials confused.
He also cited drafting issues as another reason for his decline. “It is also important for the following drafting amendments to be made to the bill (a) Section 5 of the bill, amending section 18 of the Principal Act should indicate the subsection to which the substitution of the figure “30” for the figure “60” is to be effected.
b) Section 11 of the bill, amending Section 36 should indicate the subsection in which the proviso is to be introduced.
c) Section 24 of the bill which amends Section 85(1) should be redrafted in full as the introduction of the ‘electing’ to the sentence may be interpreted to mean that political parties may give 21 days’ notice of the intention to merge, as opposed to the 90 days provided in Section 84(2) of the Electoral Act which provides the provision for merger of political parties.
d) The definition of the term “Ward Collection Officer” should be revised to reflect a more descriptive definition than the capitalized and undefined term “Registration Area Collation Officer”.
Presidency sources said Buhari also had a problem with a provision in the bill that gave the polling electoral officer the power to just “announce” results. The extant Electoral Act said the polling officer should “count and announce” results.
The presidency saw the “announce” results clause as providing room for vote manipulation and rigging”, Buhari wrote in the letter.
Also, a clause in the amendment for “electronic transmission of results” was an issue to the president. The then spokesman of the Buhari campaign organisation, and now Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, was captured on a breakfast television programme saying that “electronic transmission of results” across Nigeria won’t work at that moment because most parts of the country, especially rural areas had no internet access.
However, when some of the concerns raised by Buhari were addressed, he gave a final condition that he would sign the bill, if only a caveat is introduced by the National Assembly to the effect that the law cannot be applied until the conclusion of the 2019 general elections, which at the time was fast approaching.
Reps’ new resolve
The current House of Representatives appeared determined to reintroduce the bill. Chairman of the Committee on Electoral Matters, Hon Aisha Dukku at the inaugural meeting of the panel last Wednesday made the disclosure, even as she expressed disappointment over the decline of assent to the bill by Buhari. According to her, there was need to reintroduce the bill in order to ensure that important amendments that would improve the country’s electoral process are made.
She recalled that during the life of the 8th assembly, 12 bills seeking to amend the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and the Electoral (amendment) Act 2015 sponsored by members of the House were referred to the committee after subsequent second reading for further legislative action. Also, she added that both the 1999 Constitution and the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) regulate the conduct of elections in Nigeria, as it was anticipated that the committee’s report on the aforesaid amendment bills. This, she said, was an infusion of its input and recommendations from various stakeholders would further strengthen and deliver on such expectations.
Dukku also recalled that following in-depth reviews, the committee made recommendations to the House on numerous amendments of the Electoral Act for approval, and the report submitted and adopted on December 7, 2017, explaining that the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill 2018 and forwarded same to the president for his assent pursuant to section 58 (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), “but the president, however, declined assent due to some lacuna or drafting issues in some of the clauses of the bill, and advised that those observations be addressed”.
She said while the president’s observations were accordingly addressed, and the bill was again passed in December 2018 and later in April 2019 following another decline to assent by the president inter alia, the bill was yet vetoed by the president.
“As it stands, the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill is still hanging; hence there is need for this committee to bring it up because there are several important amendments that will improve our electoral process.
“It also requires that a number of fundamental shortcomings is still to be addressed for the legislative framework to be fully in line with universal and regional standards for elections”, the lawmaker stated at the meeting.
She, therefore, promised that the committee would do everything within its powers to improve and strengthen the conduct of elections in Nigeria, adding that the committee would partner all relevant electoral and political bodies, civil society organisations, both local and international, to make sure it succeeds in its mandate.
In the opinion of some members of the committee, the grounds upon which President Buhari declined assent should be highlighted to provide focus for the committee, as it yet ventures into the journey of electoral reforms through the amendment bill.
They also suggested that the process should commence early to provide ample time for all issues that may arise to be addressed, even as they described as troubling and embarrassing, the several decline of assent by the president, in spite of the parliament’s determination to get it through.
By the rules of the House in force, such bills when reintroduced do not have to go through the entire processes of passing a piece of legislation any longer, as it could be referred straight to committee of the whole for consideration and passage. Whether the outcome would receive the president’s assent this time is what cannot be easily predicted.
