The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it showed red card to some candidates of All Progressives Congress for failure to comply with certain provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
After long-drawn constitutional gesticulations and permutations, INEC published list of candidates for the Senatorial elections on Friday, June 24, 2022, removing names of some candidates.
Such names as Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President; Senator Godswill Akpabio, the immediate past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and David Umahi, Ebonyi State Governor were conspicuously absent.
Both Lawan and Akpabio contested the presidential primary of APC. While Akpabio later stepped down, Lawan lost to Senator Bola Tinubu, who won the party’s ticket.
Read also: Lawan, Akpabio, Umahi missing in INEC’s published list
Yet, APC sent the names of Lawan for Yobe North and Akpabio for Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial districts. Both men, it was said, never bought the expression of interest and nomination forms of their party for the position, and they were neither screened nor did they participate in the primary elections for such position.
The Akwa Ibom Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini, had faulted the action of APC and raised alarm that the candidates would pay for showing contempt to the law.
In an interview with Channels Television, Festus Okoye, INEC’s spokesman, said Lawan, Umahi, and Akpabio were reportedly excluded from the list released by the commission on Friday.
Okoye, commenting on the development regarding the INEC list, stated that the party is not required to publish the names of candidates submitted by political parties if there are questions regarding the validity of primaries featuring such candidates.
His statement reads, “If you look at section 29(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, it states that “every political party shall submit to the commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of candidates it intends to support at the election, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act,” he explained.
“The list of candidates is not submitted by the commission.” The responsibility for submitting this particular list has been assigned to the political parties themselves, and there is no personal interference between the commission and the parties in this instance.
“We open the portal, which we call the ‘candidate nomination portal,’ and we give an access code to the national chairman of each of the political parties that conducted primaries with which they upload the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates.
“Therefore, if a political party has uploaded the list and personal particulars of a candidate who did not emerge from a valid party primary, INEC is not required by law to publish the candidate’s name.”
The INEC spokesperson added that a candidate who was validly nominated in a primary but whose name was omitted by the party may seek redress in a court of competent jurisdiction.
”The final list will be published at a later date,” he added.
INEC raised alarm before concluded primaries
INEC had raised an early alarm that it would reject the candidates nominated by the political who fail to adhere to the timelines for the conduct of the primary election.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu who stated this on Saturday, February 26 to announce the timetable and schedule of activities for the next year’s polls said the timelines were in compliance with the new Electoral Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, February 25.
Fielding questions from journalists at a press conference in Abuja, Yakubu stressed that all political parties must comply with the timetable and schedule of activities by INEC.
He said: Any political party that operates outside the timeline provided by the Commission if it is with respect to parties’ primaries, will not be expected to submit the name of a candidate to the Commission.
“These timelines are supported by regulations and guidelines anchored on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022. So, we expect all political parties to comply.”
On April 5, 2022, Okoye, the INEC Director of Voter Education had said the Presidential and National Assembly elections would be held on Saturday, February 25, 2023, while the Governorship and State Assembly elections come up on Saturday, March 11, 2023.
INEC’s timetable indicates that political parties commenced primary elections from April 4, 2022, to June 3, 2022, though grace period was opened and it ended on June 9.
He advised, “that parties must adhere strictly to the principles of internal democracy, drawing from their constitutions, guidelines, the Electoral Act and other Regulations and Guidelines issued by the Commission.”
He warned aspirants to conduct democratic, transparent and valid primaries in line with the provisions of Sections 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
According to him, “Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of the Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.”
As required by law, Okoye said it is compulsory for INEC to monitor all primaries as parties must provide the required legal notice in line with Sections 82 (1) and (5) of the Electoral Act.
“Failure of a political party to notify the Commission of any convention or congress convened for the purpose of nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified in the Act shall render the convention or congress invalid,” Okoye stated.
He added that primary elections must be held in the various constituencies as provided in Section 84 of the Electoral Act.
He described as a violation of law, the conduct of primaries outside the constituencies for which parties are nominating candidates, saying INEC will not monitor such primaries and the result will be rejected.
Okoye urged political parties to avoid acrimonious primary elections that could result in unnecessary litigations that may lead to failure to nominate and field candidates for elections in some constituencies.
In corroborating, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, Lagos-based lawyer, stated that INEC is empowered by both constitutional and electoral provisions to reject the names of candidates from political parties that ought not to be on the ballot in any election.
Falana’s remarks was in reaction to a statement attributed to a National Commissioner of INEC, Mr Mohammed Haruna, to the effect that the commission’s responsibility did not include rejection of names submitted to it for an election by political parties.
Haruna spoke against the backdrop of the submission of the names of Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and former Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as senatorial candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 general election.
Haruna claimed that the electoral umpire had no power to reject names sent to it by political parties. In justifying his position, he maintained that primaries were the sole prerogatives of parties, adding that INEC’s responsibility is merely to monitor the primaries and make sure they abide by their own regulations, the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
But Falana faulted Haruna based on the provisions of the Electoral Act, stressing, “Section 84 (1) clearly states that 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. The monitoring by INEC is mandatory. To that extent, any primary of a political party not monitored by officials of INEC is illegal.
“Contrary to the views credited to Mr. Haruna, the powers of INEC have gone beyond ‘merely to monitor’ party primaries. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 84 (13) unequivocally provides that, ‘where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.’”
He said the legal implication of the provision is that INEC shall not include the candidate for the particular election.
Falana stated further, “Furthermore, Section 29 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, which provides for the submission of lists of candidates and their affidavits by political parties, states that, ‘Every political party shall, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the commission, in the prescribed forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.’”
According to Falana, Section 29(1) imposes a duty on political parties to ensure that the candidates whose names are submitted to INEC have emerged from valid primaries.
He said this position was quite different from the provision in Section 31 of the repealed Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which provided that INEC could not reject the name of any candidate submitted by the parties for any reason whatsoever.
Falana said, “Thus, in the present law, the parties can only submit for the commission’s acceptance, the names of candidates who emerged from valid primaries conducted by the parties and monitored by INEC.
“This position is clearly fortified by Section 84(13). Thus, INEC having sent a team of monitors across its 36 states offices and the Federal Capital Territory, to monitor the primaries, is legally obligated to check the names submitted to it and ensure they are confirmed by the various reports compiled by its officials.
“If the candidates, whose names are submitted to INEC have not emerged from the primaries, the commission will reject such names in exercise of its power under Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022. That was what INEC did in Zamfara State, when that power was not even expressly provided for.
“It is, therefore, most shocking to read in the social media statements attributed to some INEC National Commissioners to the effect that INEC is bound to accept the names of candidates, who did not participate in valid party primaries.
“With respect, the statement that INEC does not have power to reject names of persons submitted by political parties that did not emerge from valid primaries is grossly misleading. In fact, the embarrassing statement amounts to abdication of statutory duty under the above quoted provision of the Electoral Act aimed at sanitising the process of nomination of candidates for national elections in Nigeria.”
Lawan is not alone. The problem exists in both APC and PDP. Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Professor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi are just a few examples of those who are caught up by Section 33 because they had initially participated in the presidential primaries of their parties and are now seeking to go to the Senate (in the case of Umahi and Tambuwal) and return to the State House as governor (in the case of Bala Mohammed). In Idah/Igalamela/Ibaji/Ofu federal constituency of Kogi State, the duly nominated candidate, David Zachariah, has been arbitrarily replaced by Mustapha Mona.
What the Act says
Straightnews gathered that Section 29(1) of the Act says candidates to be submitted by political parties “MUST have emerged from valid primaries conducted by political parties.”
Section 84(13) of the 2022 Electoral Act states that… “Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position”. Compliance with the Act entails, among others, having INEC monitor all primaries.
The INEC also reserves the right to reject a candidate who fails to comply with Section 82(1) that the political party to give the commission 21 days to monitor its election.
Section 82(5) states ‘’Failure of a political party to notify the Commission as stated in subsection (1) shall render the convention, congress, conference or meeting invalid.
By Section 33 of the 2022 Act, a political party cannot change or substitute a candidate unless by reason of death or voluntary withdrawal. Where a candidate has voluntarily and properly withdrawn his candidacy according to the law, the candidate is required to directly inform INEC in writing within 14 days and the Party must conduct a fresh primary to produce a new candidate.
”Only those who participated in the first primary would be allowed to participate in the rerun primary. This is different from the 2010 Act which allowed political parties to replace candidates if they had reasons to, even if the replaced candidates were not in support of his replacement,” the online newspaper noted.
