INEC - Arrogating Too Much to Itself

Does INEC have the powers that it is currently arrogating to itself, whether screening or verification - or physical examination (of height? weight? teeth? hearing? eye-sight? What?)   ?

The absolute answer is "NO!"

And the issue is rather simple:  A clear, un-jaundiced investigation of our 1999 Constitution and the 2006 Electoral Law will reveal the four simple conclusions:   

( a ) INEC as an institution has NO POWERS whatsoever to bring a dispute concerning a candidate's credentials to court, or to unilaterally disqualify ANY CANDIDATE without a court order successfully brought by a person.                    

( b ) However, any PERSON – presumably including one who is employed by INEC, if so moved - can file before a court disputing a candidate's credentials, and if successful get a   court order. 

( c ) INEC has the limited power to VERIFY, but ONLY with respect to forged certificates, since that is implied in the Constitution in various subsections [66(1)(i), 107(1)(i) ,137(1)(j) and 182(1)(j)] and in terms of number and registration status of nominees of candidates. [Section 33(1)]. After suspicion of presentation of forged certificate, a person within INEC can then file in court, not INEC as an institution. Violating Section 33(1) does not even invalidate the nomination, which is fortunate, bearing in mind the problems that we have had with respect to Direct Data Capture registration so far!

( d)  INEC as an institution can then act accordingly with respect to the court order.

That is all.

Read for yourself below, and cut through all the legal abracadabra!  After all, why are we educated that some of these simple matters cannot be appreciated?   In many of these issues, you don't need a law degree to fathom them out, just objective eyes.                                                                                                   

So we should all agree with the "dissident" political parties:  no verification by INEC, physical or otherwise, is necessary.

Q.E.D.

 The Time Impracticality of Screening 

Let us consider the IMPRACTICALITY OF INEC SCREENING/VERIFICATION

According to the timetable recently announced by INEC, a total maximum of about 75,000 candidates are required to show themselves around INEC state and national offices between January 10 and 23 , 2007(see Table 1 below), answering the following ten questions:

1•    Have you declared allegiance to another country?
2•    Have you been elected to office of President/Governor at any two previous elections ?
3•    Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now): Are you a Lunatic?
4•    Have you been put under sentence of death or imprisonment/fines for an offence involving dishonesty?
5•    Are you guilty of contravention of code of conduct
6•    Are you an undischarged bankrupt ?
7•    Are you an Employee of public service who did not resign at least 30 days to the election? Or better yet:  do you promise to resign by March 14 or March 21, 2007?
8•    Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now) :Are you a Member of secret society ? 
9•    Have you been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a judicial or administrative panel and acceptance of this by the federal or state government ? and finally
10•   Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now): have you just presented to us a forged (primary school, secondary school, university or other educational) certificate?

A "YES" answer to any of these questions might lead to disqualification.

Now just asking these ten questions without expecting a response takes about one minute.  Getting a Yes or No will take another minute. Now INEC will have to provide counter-documentary evidence if a No (as expected) is considered a false response.  Now that exercise might take one to two hours!  With each INEC office handling anywhere from 1,000  - 2,000 candidates, even with five officers simultaneously working, time is not on INEC's side at all!

And were these questions not supposed to have been responded to in an affidavit sworn by the candidate for party nomination?  So why does INEC not rely on that, and then – as required by the Electoral Law – publish the names of the candidates within seven days and allow citizens to query the records of candidates?  

Quite frankly, INEC should face the more important issues of registration and conducting the polls proper as required under law, rather than going on a fishing expedition that the law does not require.
 

APPENDIX II:  EXAMPLES OF SECTIONS IN THE 1999 CONSTITUTION  

http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm

131. A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if -

(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;

(b) he has attained the age of forty years;

(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and

(d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.

137. (1) A person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if -

(a) subject to the provisions of section 28 of this Constitution, he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of a country other than Nigeria or, except in such cases as may be prescribed by the National Assembly, he has made a declaration of allegiance to such other country; or

(b) he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections; or

(c) under the law in any part of Nigeria, he is adjudged to be a lunatic or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind;

or

(d) he is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment or fine for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud (by whatever name called) or for any other offence, imposed on him by any court or tribunal or substituted by a competent authority for any other sentence imposed on him by such a court or tribunal; or

(e) within a period of less than ten years before the date of the election to the office of President he has been convicted and sentenced for an offence involving dishonesty or he has been found guilty of the contravention of the Code of Conduct; or

(f) he is an undischarged bankrupt, having been adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in Nigeria or any other country; or

(g) being a person employed in the civil or public service of the Federation or of any State, he has not resigned, withdrawn or retired from the employment at least thirty days before the date of the election; or

(h) he is a member of any secret society; or

(i) he has been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a Judicial Commission of Inquiry or an Administrative Panel of Inquiry or a Tribunal set up under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act, a Tribunals of Inquiry Law or any other law by the Federal or State Government which indictment has been accepted by the Federal or State Government, respectively; or

(j) he has presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission.

(2) Where in respect of any person who has been -

(a) adjudged to be a lunatic;

(b) declared to be of unsound mind;

(c) sentenced to death or imprisonment; or

(d) adjudged or declared bankrupt

APPENDIX III:  ELECTORAL ACT 2006     

(6)  A Political Party which presents to the Commission the name of a candidate who does not meet the qualifications stipulated in this section, shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a maximum fine of N500, 000.00.

(7)  Every political party shall not later than 14 days before the date appointed for a bye-election by the Commission submit the list of candidates from the party for the bye-election.

 Prohibition of double nomination.

33.  (1)   A candidate for an election under this part of the Act shall be nominated in writing by such number of persons as prescribed by the Commission whose names appear on the register of voters in the constituency.

(2)   No person shall nominate more than one person for an election to the same office.

(3)   Any person who contravenes subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction be liable to a maximum fine of N50,000 or imprisonment for three months or both but his action shall not invalidate the nomination.

(4)   No account shall be taken of the signature of a person on a nomination paper where the candidate had died, withdrawn or where the nomination paper was held invalid.

(5)  No person who has subscribed as a nominator shall so long as the candidate stands nominated withdraw his nomination.

 Political Parties changing candidates.

34.  (1)  A Political Party intending to change any of its candidates for any election shall inform the Commission of such change in writing   not later than 60 days to the election.

(2)     Any application made pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall give cogent and verifiable reasons.

 (3)  Except in the case of death, there shall be no substitution or replacement of any candidate whatsoever after the date referred to in subsection (1) of this section.

 Publication of nomination.

35.          The Commission shall, at least thirty (30) days before the day of the election publish by displaying or causing to be displayed at the place or places appointed for the delivery of nomination paper and such other places as it deems fit, a statement of the full names of all candidates standing nominated.

36.  (1)   A candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by him and delivered by himself to the Political Party that nominated him for the election and the Political Party shall convey such withdrawal to the Commission and which shall only be allowed not later than 70 days to the election.

(2)   Where the Commission is satisfied that a candidate has withdrawn as provided in subsection (1) of this section, his Political Party shall be allowed to nominate another candidate not later than 60 days before the date of election.

Robot  Villager

# 1 INEC - Arrogating Too Much to Itself ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 08.01.2007 13:14

tonsoyo  Villager

# 2 Dr. Aluko, I think you should first of all address the fraud that was AC gubernatorial primaries in Ekiti State, which was closer home and on which you have direct interest and influence before you address the problems of INEC. We heard that AC primaries in Ekiti your home State was massive fraud, if you cannot address that you lack the moral standing to come here and preach to us about INEC. For the avoidance of doubt, even though I am not from Ekiti, I do like Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the declared candidate, because of his antecedent and beautiful resume, and I do have a lot of friends who have contributed financially and some that are working on his campaign, but wrong is wrong and right is right, otherwise everything he claims to stand for would be defeated if the grievances of other candidates are not addressed. If you are not seeing to be fighting on that front, a process in which you were actively involved and a situation that you can directly influence what right have you to complain about INEC? Hypocrites we all are! Posted by tonsoyo| 08.01.2007 14:15

MrOneNaija  Villager

# 3 IWU & INEC: THEIR MASTER'S VOICE Quite frankly, INEC should face the more important issues of registration and conducting the polls proper as required under law, rather than going on a fishing expedition that the law does not require. Quite true! Iwu and his discredited outfit keep sounding with every passing day as mere echoes of members of the vicious cabal that has taken control of the PDP. INEC's question-and-answer project as published above reads like it was uplifted verbatim from the skewed and offensive "screening" - "lynching" is a more appropriate expression - organized by the sadistic buffoon called Colonel Ahmadu Ali and his confederates in the likes of Baba Aremu for potential candidates of the tyrant's PDP. Of course, even a kid would know that the sole objective of these con men is mischief, that is to hound perceived enemies of the supreme garrison commander. It is apparent that Iwu and his INEC are acting out a sordid script as dictated by a mafia desperately trying to hang on to power by hook or crook. As I have indicated elsewhere, they will fail. And as if emboldened by the declarations of the dictator and his gang of touts in their trade mark vacuity and recklessness that the vice president's office was vacant, INEC reportedly went on the attack saying that V-P Atiku should consider himself as barred on account of the spurious allegations by a pathetic lynch mob beholden to Sir Aremu. Iwu and his political masters must know that they will not escape any social conflagration that will come about as a direct result of their illegalities (and atrocities) against the people of Nigeria. What the citizenry should do in these critical times is to be extremely vigilant. Rigging and other forms of wayward conduct will not be tolerated. Posted by MrOneNaija| 08.01.2007 14:29

alagemo  Villager

# 4 If INEC don't verify these candidates, how then can we avoid people like Salisu Buhari and their bogus academic claims? Posted by alagemo| 08.01.2007 14:50

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 5 tonsoyo: Thanks for your interest in Ekiti State - even though you are not from that state - and your plug for Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the AC gubernatorial candidate for Ekiti State. As to addressing the primaries issue to which you referred, please take some time to read: http://www.nigerianmuse.com/nigeriawatch/2007/?u=Right_of_reply_EkitiPAG_to_Arise.htm RIGHT OF REPLY: On the Issue of Ayo Arise's Write-Up over the Ekiti AC Gubernatorial Primaries Dated January 3, 2007 by Ekiti Political Action Group (Ekiti-PAG) I am one of the Coordinators of Ekiti-PAG, a US-based international political pressure group of Ekiti indigenes and friends that endorsed Fayemi early on. We chose to comprehensively address some of the issues raised by aggrieved participants in the primaries because of the kind of concern for integrity that you raised. In the time being, please do not fail to visit http://www.kayodefayemi.com, and make a contribution, intellectual or otherwise, to his campaign particularly if you live in Nigeria. Best wishes always. Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 08.01.2007 16:50

tanibaba  Villager

# 6 WHO IS AFRAID OF INEC? CERTIFICATE FORGERS, 419ers, LIARS, MISFITS, ALUKO etc. Wonders they say shall never end. Almost 90% or more of commentaries in this square have been directed towards building a better society in Nigeria with men of integrity to run the affairs of state from local government to the federal level. And before we know it the writer of this article is taking us to a sorry past that we will not want to smell not to talk of touch. Hon. Aluko, what is the practical implication of section 107 that you have quoted. How will INEC determine if a certificate is forged or not if it does not verify the authencity of such claims. Or do we have star gazers AND SEERS at the offices of INEC? If there is a court judgement declaring someone insane, bankrupt etc and such a person has presented himself for election, which body will give effect to such a judgement. Or will the law courts also enforce the judgements. Which body is charged with the responsibility for conducting elections and which body did the sections of the constitution dealing with eligibility and disqualification have in mind? My brother in case you are afraid or representing a fraudlent candidate, please advise him to abandon this project because we dont want people like that again in public life. Your article can best be described as an effort to foist on us irresponsible candidates. If your candidates are worthy and people with integrity they should even encourage INEC. All these legal rigmarole and jargons will not work here. taslim Posted by tanibaba| 09.01.2007 07:36

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 7 tanibaba: Thanks for yours. We don't need to be too inflammatory here, even though passions flow. Please look at these 10 questions again: 1• Have you declared allegiance to another country? 2• Have you been elected to office of President/Governor at any two previous elections ? 3• Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now): Are you a Lunatic? 4• Have you been put under sentence of death or imprisonment/fines for an offence involving dishonesty? 5• Are you guilty of contravention of code of conduct 6• Are you an undischarged bankrupt ? 7• Are you an Employee of public service who did not resign at least 30 days to the election? Or better yet: do you promise to resign by March 14 or March 21, 2007? 8• Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now) :Are you a Member of secret society ? 9• Have you been indicted for embezzlement or fraud by a judicial or administrative panel and acceptance of this by the federal or state government ? and finally 10• Ehen, just tell us quietly (whispering now): have you just presented to us a forged (primary school, secondary school, university or other educational) certificate? Remember that INEC is not a law court. Now suppose someone answers "No" to any and all of these questions. How will INEC KNOW that that person is telling a lie or the truth? Now suppose SOMEONE has indicated to INEC that the person is telling a lie, and the accused says that he is not. How will INEC resolve that dispute? Now suppose the accuser swears to an affidavit in the accusation, and the accused also swears an affidavit to affirm his own statement, how will INEC resolve that? That is why the CONSTITUTION, in its own wisdom, has stated that in that situation, the LAW COURTS should be the one to resolve the conflict, and then after that resolution, INEC will be in a position to disqualify! It is as simple as that. INEC is not a psychiatric outfit to determine the lunacy or otherwise of a candidate. I don't know how INEC can look into somebody's eyes and know that that person is indeed a member of a secret society. What INEC wants to do just does not compute....and it must have a hidden agenda to do what it is setting about to do. Somebody mentioned the Speaker of the House Salisu Buhari who was sent down for forged certificate. That is HOW the system should work, so that EVEN after election, if someone can PROVE that you violated one of the conditions BEFORE election, you can still be sent down. Now it is a DIFFERENT thing ENTIRELY if you become lunatic AFTER election .... if it does not impair your Assembly or Presidential work, by all means go ahead. But our Constitution does not allow you to be lunatic BEFORE you asssume office.... Best wishes all. Bolaji Aluko Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 09.01.2007 18:01

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 8 Dear Forum Members: Is tonsoyo, the friend of Ekiti State, still on this forum? I strove mightily to respond to him yesterday about his inquiry about the primaries in Ekiti State, and now he has gone cold on me. Ee nor good o! Bolaji Aluko Shaking his head And Scratching it Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 09.01.2007 18:05

tonsoyo  Villager

# 9 =Bolaji Aluko;147922>Dear Forum Members: Is tonsoyo, the friend of Ekiti State, still on this forum? I strove mightily to respond to him yesterday about his inquiry about the primaries in Ekiti State, and now he has gone cold on me. Ee nor good o! Bolaji Aluko Shaking his head And Scratching it Dr. Aluko, I did not go cold on you, I think you should realize that I sometimes do other things that pay my bills, other than sit in front of computers all day. I have read the link that you gave to me, and it only appeared as your word against his. I am therefore in consultation with some of my friends on ground in Nigeria at this point that I believe might be a little bit neutral about the issue. I will surely let you know when I get the feed back. I have contributed one way or the other to Dr. Fayemi's campaign before the primaries, right now, I am taking a "siddon look" approach until I get the necessary replies to my concerns. Thank you. Posted by tonsoyo| 09.01.2007 18:44

Bolaji Aluko  Villager

# 10 tonsoyo: That was quick- for a person who does not sit around the computer all day! I hope that I would have heard from you anyway, if I did not shout out! Remember that all I wrote about was the INEC issue, and it was you who went off on a tangent on me on the Ekiti issue, putting me to task on Ekiti matter, and I showed you how I had addressed it, including speaking DIRECTLY to many of the aggrieved, including Arise himself. Anyway, let us know what you hear, although, as we say, the "main event" - the general election - is of major concern right now. Take care, anyway, and thanks for past contributions to the campaign. The website again is http://www.kayodefayemi.com ! Posted by Bolaji Aluko| 09.01.2007 19:03

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