The Govt Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, on this interview, spoke on points in regards to the
modification of the nation’s electoral legal guidelines and processes.
Excerpts
First, will the burden of proof on INEC resolve a few of our election issues? Second, are you able to speak us by means of this attempting to shift the election dates that they’ve been speaking about.
Third, are you able to speak us by means of using the INEC Outcome Viewing portal, IReV, portal
and the info middle, the info coordination of the election?
I’m at present in Lagos forward of the retreat as a result of I’m a member of the technical committee to overview the Electoral Act.
What the proposal is saying is that when there may be an allegation of fraud or the place there are questions as to the credibility of an election, the burden shouldn’t be on the litigant or the petitioner or the respondent, because the case could also be. The burden ought to shift
to INEC.
And the explanation why this proposal is necessary is that what we now have seen over
the final couple of years is a scenario the place somebody feels cheated in an election, in truth, even when there may be proof that somebody has been cheated and there may be fraud, to
show their case, they want entry to sure paperwork and supplies which might be in pos
session of INEC.
We’ve seen how there have been obstacles put in the best way of litigants who wish to ventilate their grievance, however they can not entry these supplies. It’s both
you’ve different opponents or politicians deploying thugs to disrupt the inspection
course of, otherwise you even see a scenario the place INEC is reluctant to grant entry to these
paperwork.
On this specific occasion, if the burden shifts to INEC, INEC will now be compelled to say should you declare that you’ve organised credible elections, then come and show it and set up that you’ve fulfilled all of the circumstances for the credibility of the
election. That’s the entire proposal, and it enjoys huge help.
The second proposal is round shifting dates. Nigerians have been clamoring for
an modification to the Structure so that each one election disputes will be resolved earlier than the swearing-in of the winner of an election.
To do this, it’s a must to alter the timeline. It is because the Structure gives that elections shall maintain no sooner than 150 days, and no later than 30 days to an election.
There may be a couple of five-month interval.
However if you take a look at the overall variety of days that’s required for figuring out election
instances, generally it spills over. You see conditions the place somebody is already in workplace,
they’ve entry to state energy and assets, and so they can use that to affect
judicial outcomes.
Because of this this proposal has been put ahead. Subsequently, it’s a must to alter the timelines. Elections will now be held someday round November or December.
After the elections, between December or November to April, the issues would have
been disbursed with.
And so whoever is assuming workplace can assume workplace with out
any distraction of litigation. The final level is about electoral know-how. As you understand, within the final election, the IReV performed a criti
cal function.
Sadly, the courts adjudicated and mentioned the IReV is just not a part of INEC’s collation, a place that a few of us don’t agree with as a result of the INEC tips clearly make prescriptions on digital transmission of outcomes. However the courts have dominated, and what the Senate and the Home of Representatives have now finished is up
courting the legislation in such a method that it takes care of digital transmission and handbook
transmission.
The entire level is to not substitute one for the opposite as a result of know-how does have its vulnerabilities. So, you continue to want the handbook transmission and digital trans mission to go hand in hand. It’s good to see the senators debate this subject, in contrast to the final time when there was no consensus.
It was a tall order within the final Nationwide Meeting to even focus on the problem of digital
transmission. However, it’s heartwarming to see that these provisions are already contained
within the invoice.
On the independence of INEC, which has come up a lot of instances as being certainly one of its bane. How will this invoice, if handed, deal with that subject by way of the method of appointment, not simply of the INEC chairman, but in addition returning officers throughout states?
The problem of INEC is just not technical.
INEC’s largest downside is political in nature. It’s about political interference with the electoral fee.
I’ll spotlight a number of areas the place this actually occurs. When you consider the appointment course of, it’s a constitutional matter.
There are proposals that the ability needs to be faraway from the president, which we strongly agree with below the brand new INEC marketing campaign. I doubt, to be sincere, that that individual provision goes to move the proposal that the ability be faraway from the president.
I don’t suppose that it’ll move for very apparent causes on this presidential system of presidency, it might take a statesman who’s a president to amend the structure to scale back his energy. Personally, I would like the president and the Nationwide Meeting to shock a few of us, however I’m not optimistic that that individual proposal will sail by means of.
For among the proposals within the electoral invoice, sure, they strengthen INEC’s independence, however the larger query is, one, when you consider INEC’s independence, allow us to take a look at electoral procurement.
Will the politicians enable INEC to pick out the distributors that deploy supplies and companies to the electoral fee? As a result of politicians have a few of these firms, they put a variety of strain on them. If you consider a site the place INEC asserts its independence, that’s one area within the procurement of electoral supplies.
The second, relating to points round outcomes administration, will INEC be
shielded from each type of strain from both incumbents, whether or not on the state
or the federal degree, to affect electoral outcomes? That can be the opposite subject.
The third level, if you take a look at INEC’s independence, is within the recruitment and the ap
pointment of its collation officers as properly asad-hoc officers. We’ve seen instances the place
politicians recruit their adherents to becomead-hoc officers.
These are domains, and the place we will probably be watching the present INEC chairman is to see how he is ready to assert the independence of the electoral fee and guarantee all the opposite companies don’t assault the independence. As an example, the safety
companies.
INEC is just not a safety establishment. If INEC doesn’t benefit from the help of safety companies, it isn’t going to make any headway with our elections. If INEC doesn’t get the funding that it requires from the federal authorities, the subsequent election is estimated to value Nigeria over N870 billion.
The large query is whether or not the federal authorities will launch the cash in due time, despite the fact that the electoral act gives that that cash for elections needs to be launched
to INEC one 12 months earlier than the elections. If you consider inclusion, a part of the proposal, particularly within the Home of Representatives model of the invoice, is that this level about early voting. On the day of an election, journalists will probably be both within the studio or protecting elections.
And that’s not correct for a rustic that practices constitutional democracy. Everybody has a proper to vote, however media, safety companies and INEC officers are unable to forged their votes. So one of many proposals is to have early voting.
Whenever you introduce early voting as contained within the proposals, whether or not it’s
the media and all those that are concerned in election safety or offering election ser
vices, will have the ability to forged their vote at elections.
Early voting is one specific method of deepening the inclusiveness of the electoral course of. When you consider ladies and individuals with disabilities, making certain that the
total occasion primaries usually are not structured in a method that they’re decided by the
highest bidder and the best spender, that ladies and individuals with disabilities
and younger persons are in a position to safe occasion nomination, that’s one facet requiring a
little bit of deeper reflection and likewise proposal to strengthen that total system in order that this
commodification or shopping for and promoting that we see throughout primaries is diminished to the minimal degree There’s a proposed modification to part 12, subsection 1D and
subsection 2, which is in search of to recognise the voting rights ofinmates.
Now, it is a contentious subject worldwide, however after we take a look at the peculiar points we now have in Nigeria, are we able to grant inmates the correct to vote? How will that work?
I’m glad that that actually got here up as a result of that is without doubt one of the landmark propos
als within the present modification course of, and I actually congratulate the 2 committees in
the Senate and Home for placing this on the desk.
Just a few weeks in the past, Yiaga Africa with the European Union hosted a technical workshop on this subject material. The Comptroller Normal of the Nigerian Correctional Companies, the outgone INEC Chairman after which members of the Senate and Home Committee had been in that workshop in Abuja, the place we unpacked this whole proposal.
I believe that the purpose that the brand new INEC Chairman made throughout the affirmation
listening to, that no voter will probably be left behind, may be very profound and instructive. There
isn’t any legislation in at present’s Nigeria that forestalls inmates from voting. Whether or not there are
86,000 of them and even 100,000 of them in each federal and state prisons, there isn’t a
provision anyplace that hampers the train of their proper to vote.
So we have to take a look at this from a rights perspective, that these people are being denied a proper that they’ve.
The second level, when you consider logistics, fairly frankly, what the proposal is saying is, it’s really easy.
By way of voter registration, INEC would deploy its officers to register inmates within the
prisons, those that usually are not registered, as a result of a few of them earlier than being sentenced to jail, a few of them maybe is likely to be registered voters, so there may be a switch of registered particulars. Earlier than the election, each voter, each political occasion will
have entry to the checklist of registered voters within the prisons. In the identical method, in at present’s
Nigeria, each political occasion has entry to the voter’s register, based mostly on the provisions
of the legislation. Now, in polling models, INEC can create polling models within the prisons. In coun
tries like Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, infect, even in Ghana, these items occur,
and it’s only a easy course of.
You simply undertake the identical technique and method for the final voting, for this specific particular voting association.
I don’t suppose that logistics will even pose any problem. The larger query is we have to acknowledge that folks have a proper to vote, and the correct to vote is sacrosanct in a democracy, besides if we are saying we’re not a democracy or we’re one thing else.
However as long as we’re in a democracy, the correct of each voter is sacrosanct, and it must be protected. The burden is on the state to make provisions to safeguard their rights. That’s the reason in different international locations, you’ve voting by proxy.
We’re not saying in Nigeria you need to introduce voting by proxy, however it’s to inform you how different international locations cherish and worth their proper to vote.
And I don’t see any purpose why we should always not discover issues like inmates vot
ing and early voting