Electoral Act: When House of Reps Defied Nigerians
12.13.2010
The House of Representatives last week secretly passed the controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill despite huge outcry from Nigerians. Onwuka Nzeshi reports that the manner in which it was passed has raised suspicion and created another round of controversy
The general elections are around the corner and the curtain is about to fall on the sixth session of the National Assembly. Parliamentarians who secured the mandate of their constituents in 2007 and swore to an oath to protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are getting on the marks again preparatory to run a fresh race.
These are interesting times and a time when people are prepared to do a whole lot of things to protect their own interests.
In recent weeks, some unusual incidents have occurred in the parliament. Some are strange and some are not completely unexpected given the nature of Nigerian politics and the character of Nigerian politicians. The expectation is that just like sports, as the game draws to a close, actions heighten to a feverish pitch and all the players become desperate to score some last minute goals. It is time to put in every last ounce of strength and tactics in order to save the teams and avoid defeat. It is indeed injury time and there are bound to be more fouls and more yellow cards as player seeks to win by hook or crook.
If one considers some of the recent scenarios in the parliament, one might be able to understand mood of the players on our political turf. The other day, it was the controversial budget of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) that received a sneaky and suspicious treatment. The budget had as one of its components, a N6.1 billion expenditure plan for the registration of mobile phone SIM cards. For over four months, some lawmaker battled to delete the item from the budget while a number of others did every thing to protect it even when it was obvious that the NCC did not need such a whooping sum to register subscribers since the service providers were already doing same free of charge.
All the same, the masterminds of the budget launched an offensive one Thursday evening, passed the budget along with the controversial item and damned the consequences. The coup was plotted by a few lawmakers who apparently knew what their colleagues did not know. It resulted into an uproar the next legislative day but it was too late to turn back the hands of the clock.
On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, the House of Representatives received the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters on a controversial bill seeking to make lawmakers automatic members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of their political parties. Same day, the House sat in the Committee of the Whole, a session that dragged late into the evening. By the time they rose from the sitting, news filtered into town that the lawmakers had passed the controversial bill. It was hurriedly and surreptitiously passed into law when majority of its members had left the chambers and the press gallery had naturally become empty.
It was a curious development because the House earlier in the day when the House received the report of its Joint Committee on Electoral Matters, Justice, Intra and Inter Party Affairs on the public hearing conducted on the bill, there were no indications that the report will be considered same day. The bill was not among the list of nine reports scheduled for consideration and there were no indications that a report submitted that afternoon will be considered and passed before the close of proceedings same day.
However, the journey of this bill through the legislative mill has remained consistently hasty and therefore leaves no one in doubt as to the direction it was going. It was presented innocuously and passed first reading one Thursday session and listed for second reading the next Tuesday. As soon as it scaled second reading and was referred to the Joint Committee on November 9, 2010, they wasted no time before a one day public hearing was conducted to feel the pulse of the public on the contents of the bill. Ideally, it takes several weeks or months to consider reports emanating from a public hearing but the case of this bill has been totally different. The circumstances surrounding the secret passage of this bill has raised even more suspicion than the dust it raised when it first hit the tarmac running.
Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable Eseme Eyiboh confirmed that the bill was passed late on that day but denied that it was passed in secret. He said the bill was passed by the Committee of the Whole after the lawmakers considered the recommendations of the relevant committees that conducted a public hearing on the bill.
Eyiboh disclosed that the piece of legislation had already been transmitted to the Senate where a similar bill has been pending before lawmakers in the Upper Chamber. According to him, what happened in the House was a bold step towards entrenching internal democracy in the political parties. He however observed that the final details of the bill will be unveiled after the Senate and the House had met in Conference to harmonise their positions.
Chairman, House Committee on Air Force, Honourable John Halims Agoda said the bill was not passed in secret but was taken through due process. Agoda said that although he was not one of the fanatical supporters of the bill, the process of its final passage was in order. The House, he said, simply suspended its rules to allow the chamber remain active beyond the normal session because the lawmakers had so much to do that day.
Although I am not a keen supporter of that bill, there is nothing secret about what we did. We followed due process. Section 60 of the Constitution allows us to amend or suspend the House Rules any time we deem it necessary and for the purpose of carrying out our legislative responsibilities, he said.
Chairman, South-south Parliamentary Caucus, Honourable Andrew Uchendu said he cannot confirm if the bill was secretly passed or not because he was not in the chamber the day it was passed. He said anything could have happened given the way some members have taken the bill since it was introduced in parliament.
I must tell you that this bill is very popular among my colleagues but like I have done before, I want to warn that what is sweet might also have a bitter part. This is why I have always called for caution on this bill. It will be very unfortunate and regrettable if the Senate passes the same version of the bill as the House has done. If they do and send it to Mr. President for assent, I will advise President Goodluck Jonathan to consult widely and reflect deeply because as attractive as this bill may seem, it is bedecked by many angers. Underneath it is a weapon that could aid the dismantling of all that we have built so far in the twelve years of our democratic experience, Uchendu said.
The bill marked HB 436 was sponsored by two lawmakers namely Honourable C.I.D Maduabum (PDP Anambra) and Honourable Igochukwu Aguma (PDP Rivers) but there has been some suspicion that the duo may just be acting the script of a yet to be identified political interest group in the country. Primarily, the bill seeks to amend the Electoral Act 2010 to include the time frame for conduct of general elections in Nigeria as a result of Constitutional Amendment process. It is however better known by the second leg of its motive which is to strengthen the internal democratic practices in the various political parties in Nigeria.
The bill seeks to amend Section 87(4) of the Electoral Act 2010 by inserting a new subsection as follows: Every political party in Nigeria shall establish in its Constitution a National Executive Committee (NEC) which shall be the highest decision making body of the political party. The membership of the National Executive Committee(NEC) of a political party shall be as follows: The President and the former President who are members of the party; The Vice President and former Vice Presidents who are members of the party; Governors who are members of the party; Members of the National Assembly who are members of the party; former presiding officers of the National Assembly who are members of the party; Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees, where applicable; former National Chairmen; former Chairmen, Board of Trustees; State Chairmen of the Party; Zonal Chairmen of the party where applicable and National Officers of the Party.
The bill also seeks to prescribe the quorum for meeting of the NEC of a political party which it said shall be one half (1/2) of its total membership while all NEC decisions on electoral matters require two thirds (2/3) of its quorum.
There have been insinuations that the bill is the handiwork of highly placed political figures that have the ears of the man in Aso Rock. The theory is that the bill might be part of the political permutations of a section of the political class who want to checkmate the overbearing influence of the governors of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming party primaries. Generally, state governors have been wielding so much influence since the first democratic transition of power in 2003. They seem to hold all the cards in their hands and are prepared to play out anyone who dares them in the game of politics. They reign like emperors. They see federal legislators from their states as threats to their control over the states. Members of the State Executive Councils are but mere jesters in their royal courts. They have long pocketed the State Houses of Assembly and usurped the functions of the parliament such that no one who is not in the good books of the governor can preside over the State House of Assembly. They have equally extended their influence to Aso Rock.
When Jonathan came on board and began to preach the gospel of reforms and transparent elections, some governors were said to have been unsettled because of the implications of credible polls on the sustenance of their empires in the respective states, despite getting to power through flawed processes.
THISDAY gathered that the now controversial Electoral Bill was launched when it appeared that head or tail, the governors were winning and were prepared to veto any decision of the NEC of the party. The plot is to overwhelm the governors and their supporters in NEC by simple majority. In this way the party is seeking to dethrone tyranny of the minority with tyranny of the majority.
In a nutshell, the proposal to include members of the National Assembly in the NEC of political parties was to free the parties, particularly the PDP from the tyranny of the governors who have become the godfathers.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Maduabum disclosed that the proposed amendment of Section 87 to bring federal legislators on board the NEC of their political parties was to enlarge the membership of the decision making organ, encourage mass participation in party affairs and provide a level playing field for all political actors.
In a statement titled: The Reasons for Seeking to Amend the Electoral Act 2010, Maduabum said the various political parties currently lacked internal democracy because they have been hijacked by some political god-fathers, adding that a situation where a few individuals hijack political parties and dictate to the rest of its members who gets what and how was no longer acceptable to majority of the progressive minded members of the National Assembly.
The dictatorial, tyrannical, capricious, whimsical and discretionary manner in which some political parties are run in the country today is cause for worry. There is absolute lack of internal democracy in many political parties. A few people have hijacked the political parties, they dictate to the rest of the country who gets what and how. There is no form of democracy or representation of the interests of the people. Political parties are recruiting grounds for candidates for various offices. Their role is too important to the democratic process to be left unregulated.
It is because some political parties have refused to broaden the political space on their own that necessitated this amendment. We have intervened legislatively to sanitise the process since the political parties have apparently proved incapable of doing this. It is in fact an irony that the same people who lord it over others, who dictate to both the President, Party Officers, National Assembly members, state House of Assembly members, the media and indeed the whole country are the ones shouting about democracy being damaged, Maduabum stated.
Maduabum said that apart from the example in the United States of America where members of the legislature constitute membership of the NEC of their respective parties, some political parties in Nigeria have already adopted the same model and have enshrined it in their party constitutions. He explained that the proposed amendment will merely make it a universal provision for all the political parties in Nigeria.
The co-sponsor of the bill, Aguma, disclosed that the move has precedent in Nigeria. He said members of parliament were also members of the NEC of their respective political parties during the Second Republic, an arrangement, he said, enabled federal lawmakers articulate and promote their party policies and manifestoes more effectively. He debunked the speculations that the bill was designed to promote the political aspirations of Jonathan, saying it has no connection whatsoever as the National Assembly had recently rejected an executive bill seeking to amend the Electoral Act.
Print This Article
Post Comment
Post Comment
All comments
RELATED ARTICLES
- Political Episodes that Shaped 2009
12.31.2009 19:05 - Sambos End of the Year Score Card
12.31.2009 19:03 - We ll Celebrate Political End of Anambra Defectors
12.31.2009 19:00 - Yuguda: Running the Oppositions Gauntlet
12.31.2007 22:56 - Abia: One State, Many Battles
12.31.2007 22:55 - AC Is Interfering with Election Tribunal in Ekiti
12.31.2007 22:52 - April Polls Post-mortem: A Diaspora Perspective
12.31.2007 22:52 - CNN: A Coalition for Buharis Candidature?
12.31.2006 18:50 - Don’t Surrender to Anti-democratic Forces, Agbaje Urges Lagosians
12.31.2006 18:48 - PDP, ANPP, Others Accuse INEC of Sabotage
12.31.2006 18:48