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INEC Must Be Truly Independent

THEWILL APP ADS 2

June 06, (THEWILL) – In the text of its mission statement, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unambiguously described its goal as “to serve as an independent and effective Election Management Body (EMB) committed to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections for sustainable democracy in Nigeria.”

In addition to that mission, some of the core values of the Commission, as listed on its website, incude autonomy, transparency, integrity, credibility and impartiality, which are regarded as the guiding principles that provide a foundation upon which it operates.

The values mean that “INEC shall carry out all its functions independently, free from external control and influence” as an autonomous body, it “shall display openness and transparency in all its activities and in its relationship with all stakeholders” while maintaining “truthfulness and honesty in all its dealings at all times”.

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Most importantly, as a Commission on which so much faith is reposed, the value of credibility requires that INEC ensures “that no action or activity is taken in support of any candidate or political party” and also “ensure that the creation of a level playing field for all political actors” is maintained at all times.

When on May 27, INEC extended the deadline for the conduct of political parties’ primaries for the 2023 general election, from June 3 to June 9, it seemed that the electoral umpire was neither acting on the basis of its mission statement nor on its hallowed values. This move was assumed to have disadvantaged one of the parties, which organised its primaries while keeping the previous deadline in mind, and favoured the other, which seemed to be aware of the postponement as it was unprepared for its primaries in any advanced stage but was now privy of the presidential direction of the former party.

It was a move that rendered the political games the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), were playing in shifting the dates of their congresses, so as to determine which way to swing after the opposition had revealed tits hand, a waste of political strategy. And it gave the upper hand to the governing party.

What made this action even more egregious was that the political parties requested an extension of the deadline, even as they played a game of political chairs to see which candidate the other party would pick to fly its flag at the 2023 polls. Their request to INEC was to be allowed more time to prepare and conduct their primary elections.

Engr. Yusuf Yabagi Sani, the chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), made the request for an extension during INEC’s meeting with the leaders of the political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, May 10. It was a request, not just from the aid APC and PDP, but all of the 18 registered political parties, under the aegis of (IPAC).

Engr. Sani’s appeal to INEC, during this quarterly consultative meeting, was predicated on the benefit that an adjusted timetable will have in providing for a free and credible election.

IPAC requested a month-long extension, citing specific reasons for doing so. The council argued that some of the constraining developments, which they believe were not considered and thus not factored in by the INEC when drafting its schedule of activities, include the Christian Lenten season and Muslim fasting in the month of Ramadan, followed by Easter and Eid El Fitr (Sallah) celebrations, in which the vast majority of party members participated. As a result, the developments inevitably disrupted the political parties’ planned activities and programmes, resulting in a loss of about two weeks from the timetable’s allotted time.

However, the commission put its foot on the ground with a vehement insistence that the June 3rd deadline for conclusion of party primaries was “firm and fixed”. According to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the commission had taken the initiative to previously remind political parties, on two occasions, of the need for strict compliance with the timelines for party primaries in order to avoid any hiccups with the schedule. The reminders were deliberate because INEC wanted to strictly maintain the timeline for the conclusion of primaries and submission of the names of candidates. The reason was that any attempt to alter the timetable was a recipe for confusion as it was inevitably going to affect other inter-related activities associated with the timelines down the line, thereby placing an unnecessary burden and avoidable pressure on the parties, the commission and the electoral system.

It was therefore best to avoid uncalled-for complications by sticking to the established timelines and leaving out any ideas of extensions. Prof. Yakubu concluded: “Therefore, the commission will not review the timelines.

As the schedule seemed set in stone and no longer able to continue postponing, parties began to strategise and organise and redouble their campaigns so as to have names to send to the commission before the June 3 deadline.

The PDP, for instance, kicked off its various primaries across the country, while the big one, the Congress to pick the presidential candidate, was earmarked for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The top picks of Governor Nyesom Woke of Rivers State, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State were making final moves to sway the delegates to support their bids. The same was taking place across the political firmament except in the governing party, which had not prepared the venue for its presidential primaries and its leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, had jetted out of the country on what could have been the eve of the most important congress of the party in recent time. It was as if they knew something others did not even know after INEC insisted that the deadlines were final.

That all became obvious when the electoral umpire appeared to have turned a blind eye to its mission statement and forgotten its core values, as well as caved in to partisan pressure to announce a belated extension of the deadline, thus calling INEC’s impartiality to question as one party looked set to reap the most from the move.

It is this inevitable suspicion of veiled partisanship that I think INEC will be better served to avoid. The responsibility to organise credible elections that are not only free and fair but also seen to be such is so sacred a role in our fledgling democratic process that the impartiality of the electoral umpire cannot be the subject of a debate.

INEC must be seen to be above board rather than cavorting to the whims of a party or allowing the political power of the day to be seen as influencing its decisions. Its value of autonomy is included in its title because of how important it is to retain full independence for the overall integrity of the electoral system.

In a political system, such as ours, where trust is scarce, it behoves the commission to carry out its activities with dignified adherence to those core values of autonomy, transparency, integrity, credibility and impartiality so as to win the confidence of all participants in the system, from party officials to contestants and from the electorate to election observers. This is the only way it can help our democracy mature and truly progress towards the realisation of its own vision statement on its website, which reads “The vision of INEC is to be one of the best Election Management Bodies (EMB) in the world that meets the aspirations of the Nigerian people.”

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