By Daniel Abia, Snr. Correspondent, Port Harcourt
Unless certain fundamental sections of the current constitution are reviewed to reflect the relative political situation in the country as to ensure democracy epitomised in free, fair and credible elections, the planned amendment of the 1999 constitution by the seventh National Assembly may be an exercise in futility. This was the position of some political parties, at their recent summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The 57 parties under the aegis of Nigerian Registered Political Parties (NRPP), last week in Port Hacourt, harmonised the resolution they had earlier reached in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on the knotty issues that must be considered to give the country an inclusive and workable constitution. Their observations at the forum were not without reasons.
Analysts have in fact, noted that one of the biggest problems confronting the political stability of Nigeria has been the inability to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
Authorities of the ruling political parties have always been accused of hand picking members of the electoral body saddled with the responsibility of conducting election with the view to exerting some degree of influence at the poll.
It was therefore the observation of the political parties that if the 13-year-old democracy the country is currently enjoying is to be sustained and etched in the national consciousness, there is dire need to restructure the existing Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Port Harcourt strategic meeting under the aegis of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) afforded the various political parties the atmosphere to brainstorm on key issues in the constitution and come up with recommendations that would be forwarded to the National Assembly for possible consideration.
They considered that the restructuring of the present INEC must start from sections 154 and 157 of the Constitution, which relate to the composition, appointment and removal of Chairman and members of the Board of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The new INEC, going by their observation, is expected to have a chairman, who must be a person of unquestionable character and proven integrity with a deputy who must also be a person of good conduct, but not necessarily of the same gender.
To reflect a balanced federation and equal representation in the INEC board, six persons of proven integrity and character drawn from the six geopolitical zones, which must include women, would indeed witness an evolving electoral body that is capable of deepening the nation’s democracy.
Other nominees, the parties agreed, would be drawn from the Civil Society Organisations, Labour, Nigerian Bar Association, Women, media and the youth groups.
In reducing the overbearing influence of the sitting President in the choice of the chairman of INEC, the political parties were of the view that the appointment of the chairman should be by the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC).
The NJC would make such recommendation for the appointment of the chairman after a wide range of advertorial specifying the position and forwarded such recommendation to the Senate for final screening.
For the job security of the INEC members, the parties said sections 155 and 157 of the Constitution must be amended as they urged the National Assembly to ensure that the Chairman and members of the Board of INEC may only be removed by the Senate on the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) by two thirds majority of the Senate which shall include at least 10 members of the minority parties in the upper house.
It was also their view that the 1999 Constitution should be amended to provide that the tenure of office of the Chairman and members of the Board of INEC shall be five years from the date of appointment and shall be renewable only once.
At the state level, the Nigerian Registered Political Parties recommended that the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) should be abolished and its structures incorporated within the structure of INEC to form a single election management body for the country. Under the new arrangement, the State Secretariats of INEC should therefore consist of 37 Directors of Elections, one for each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), appointed by INEC, trained and posted to states other than their states of origin.
The recommendation covers amendment of the local government level where full time 774 Local Government Electoral Officers should be appointed by INEC while at the Ward level, full time 8814 career Assistant Electoral Officers should also be appointed by the electoral body after public advertisement inviting applications and posted outside their wards but within the local government area. “At least one third of these Local Government Electoral Officers should be women,” the parties insisted.
Indeed, the strategic meeting in Uyo and Port Harcourt were the first time various political parties would come together irrespective of party affiliations to forge a common front for the betterment of the country’s democracy.
In a bid to create harmony and positive political consciousness among parties, Section 222-229 of the Constitution were equally recommended for amendment to provide for the establishment of a Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission (PPRRC).
The rudiment of this new party commission will among other things register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and sections 78-101 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), monitor the organisation and operation of the political parties, including their finances.
In furtherance of its responsibility, the commission will also have the duty of arranging the annual examination and auditing of the funds and accounts of political parties, monitor political campaigns and provide rules and regulations, which shall govern such political party campaigns.
More than that, PPRRC would also be responsible for accrediting domestic civil society groups, international election observers, local and international media organisations observing elections among other functions.
In a manner reminiscent of having a bailout mechanism to enhance the financial status of the parties, they proposed that section 228 (c) of the Constitution needs some amendment to provide that the National Assembly shall by law make provisions for annual grant to the Independent National Electoral Commission for disbursement to all registered political parties to assist them in the discharge of their functions and constitutional responsibilities.
If the position of the NRPP is accepted by the National Assembly, Section 228 (c) will have to be further looked into to provide that political parties that maintain a minimum of 35 percent women in all its executive bodies shall receive additional grants from the INEC. This will in no less measure brighten the chances of the 35 percent affirmative action by women.
Dr. Osita Okereke, National Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), believes that creating more space to accommodate women in the nation’s political space would not only ease tension that is associated with elections, but would promote a good sense of equality.
“We are here in Port Harcourt to harmonise that process of making our input in the constitution amendment. If 50 or 60 percent of what we agreed on could be implemented, then Nigeria would be better for it,” Okereke said.
“What we are doing is to see how to help Nigerian democracy by making women and children to participate well in our politics. We should accommodate our women in politics. We have also deliberated on how we can come up with a transparent judiciary. It is a common saying that judiciary is the last hope of a common man. But here in Nigeria, if you don’t have billions, you can’t have justice in this country,” the National Chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP) explained.
In his opinion, Tijjani Musa Tumsah, National Secretary of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), said the Uyo and Port Harcourt meetings apart from reuniting the various political parties despite their different political backgrounds and ideologies, afforded them the opportunity to make input in the constitution amendment.
“This is a very welcome development and I must thank the National Assembly and the UNDP for providing the platform for us to contribute meaningfully to the constitution amendment of our beloved country.”
Tumsah explained that if reflected, the joint recommendations of the political parties would go a long way in strengthening the nation’s democracy and place Nigeria on a formidable stead politically.
For Comrade Miriki Ebikibina, the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), issues of democracy all over the world is a participatory practice, which infers that an appreciable number of youths and women must be given equal playing field to express themselves politically.
In a chat with Daily Independent in Port Harcourt, Miriki argued that there has been no ideological base in defining the present political mission, because “younger elements within the emergent democratic political parties have come to find themselves on the sidelines.”
He expressed regrets that youth and women wings have been integrated into the Executive Council thereby silencing the existence of these “most important aspects of our society.”
The ACN youth leader however attributed the Niger Delta militancy, Boko Haram insurgency in the North and other youth restiveness in the country to the inability of the political class to assign position of responsibility to the militant youths.
Succinctly, many people have argued that the National Assembly would face a herculean task of amending the entire constitution, given the number of items that must be considered for amendment.
In the 1960 constitution, for instance, there were 44 items on the Exclusive List while the Concurrent List had 28 items. On that basis, as the country progressed to a Republican democracy in 1963 with 45 and 29 items in the Exclusive and Concurrent lists respectively, analysts said this is even too cumbersome.
Today, the 1999 Constitution carries as much as 68 items on the Exclusive List. Professor Kimse Okoko, a retired Professor of Political Science from the University of Port Harcourt, observed that with this cumbersome items entrenched in the nation’s constitution, it would be of a huge hindrance to the National Assembly.
“Let me repeat here that the attempt to amend the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly is an effort in futility. It is a job in futility because they are not empowered to comprehensively amend the constitution.
“What they are trying to do is to review the constitution. They can amend one or two areas of the constitution not a comprehensive aspect of it. That is not their mandate. It is an exercise in futility. There are thirty or more items in that constitution that they want to amend. How will that happen? That is a comprehensive review”, Okoko said.
By Daniel Abia, Snr. Correspondent, Port Harcourt
Unless certain fundamental sections of the current constitution are reviewed to reflect the relative political situation in the country as to ensure democracy epitomised in free, fair and credible elections, the planned amendment of the 1999 constitution by the seventh National Assembly may be an exercise in futility. This was the position of some political parties, at their recent summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The 57 parties under the aegis of Nigerian Registered Political Parties (NRPP), last week in Port Hacourt, harmonised the resolution they had earlier reached in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on the knotty issues that must be considered to give the country an inclusive and workable constitution. Their observations at the forum were not without reasons.
Analysts have in fact, noted that one of the biggest problems confronting the political stability of Nigeria has been the inability to conduct free, fair and credible elections.
Authorities of the ruling political parties have always been accused of hand picking members of the electoral body saddled with the responsibility of conducting election with the view to exerting some degree of influence at the poll.
It was therefore the observation of the political parties that if the 13-year-old democracy the country is currently enjoying is to be sustained and etched in the national consciousness, there is dire need to restructure the existing Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Port Harcourt strategic meeting under the aegis of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) afforded the various political parties the atmosphere to brainstorm on key issues in the constitution and come up with recommendations that would be forwarded to the National Assembly for possible consideration.
They considered that the restructuring of the present INEC must start from sections 154 and 157 of the Constitution, which relate to the composition, appointment and removal of Chairman and members of the Board of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The new INEC, going by their observation, is expected to have a chairman, who must be a person of unquestionable character and proven integrity with a deputy who must also be a person of good conduct, but not necessarily of the same gender.
To reflect a balanced federation and equal representation in the INEC board, six persons of proven integrity and character drawn from the six geopolitical zones, which must include women, would indeed witness an evolving electoral body that is capable of deepening the nation’s democracy.
Other nominees, the parties agreed, would be drawn from the Civil Society Organisations, Labour, Nigerian Bar Association, Women, media and the youth groups.
In reducing the overbearing influence of the sitting President in the choice of the chairman of INEC, the political parties were of the view that the appointment of the chairman should be by the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC).
The NJC would make such recommendation for the appointment of the chairman after a wide range of advertorial specifying the position and forwarded such recommendation to the Senate for final screening.
For the job security of the INEC members, the parties said sections 155 and 157 of the Constitution must be amended as they urged the National Assembly to ensure that the Chairman and members of the Board of INEC may only be removed by the Senate on the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) by two thirds majority of the Senate which shall include at least 10 members of the minority parties in the upper house.
It was also their view that the 1999 Constitution should be amended to provide that the tenure of office of the Chairman and members of the Board of INEC shall be five years from the date of appointment and shall be renewable only once.
At the state level, the Nigerian Registered Political Parties recommended that the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) should be abolished and its structures incorporated within the structure of INEC to form a single election management body for the country. Under the new arrangement, the State Secretariats of INEC should therefore consist of 37 Directors of Elections, one for each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), appointed by INEC, trained and posted to states other than their states of origin.
The recommendation covers amendment of the local government level where full time 774 Local Government Electoral Officers should be appointed by INEC while at the Ward level, full time 8814 career Assistant Electoral Officers should also be appointed by the electoral body after public advertisement inviting applications and posted outside their wards but within the local government area. “At least one third of these Local Government Electoral Officers should be women,” the parties insisted.
Indeed, the strategic meeting in Uyo and Port Harcourt were the first time various political parties would come together irrespective of party affiliations to forge a common front for the betterment of the country’s democracy.
In a bid to create harmony and positive political consciousness among parties, Section 222-229 of the Constitution were equally recommended for amendment to provide for the establishment of a Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission (PPRRC).
The rudiment of this new party commission will among other things register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and sections 78-101 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), monitor the organisation and operation of the political parties, including their finances.
In furtherance of its responsibility, the commission will also have the duty of arranging the annual examination and auditing of the funds and accounts of political parties, monitor political campaigns and provide rules and regulations, which shall govern such political party campaigns.
More than that, PPRRC would also be responsible for accrediting domestic civil society groups, international election observers, local and international media organisations observing elections among other functions.
In a manner reminiscent of having a bailout mechanism to enhance the financial status of the parties, they proposed that section 228 (c) of the Constitution needs some amendment to provide that the National Assembly shall by law make provisions for annual grant to the Independent National Electoral Commission for disbursement to all registered political parties to assist them in the discharge of their functions and constitutional responsibilities.
If the position of the NRPP is accepted by the National Assembly, Section 228 (c) will have to be further looked into to provide that political parties that maintain a minimum of 35 percent women in all its executive bodies shall receive additional grants from the INEC. This will in no less measure brighten the chances of the 35 percent affirmative action by women.
Dr. Osita Okereke, National Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), believes that creating more space to accommodate women in the nation’s political space would not only ease tension that is associated with elections, but would promote a good sense of equality.
“We are here in Port Harcourt to harmonise that process of making our input in the constitution amendment. If 50 or 60 percent of what we agreed on could be implemented, then Nigeria would be better for it,” Okereke said.
“What we are doing is to see how to help Nigerian democracy by making women and children to participate well in our politics. We should accommodate our women in politics. We have also deliberated on how we can come up with a transparent judiciary. It is a common saying that judiciary is the last hope of a common man. But here in Nigeria, if you don’t have billions, you can’t have justice in this country,” the National Chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP) explained.
In his opinion, Tijjani Musa Tumsah, National Secretary of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), said the Uyo and Port Harcourt meetings apart from reuniting the various political parties despite their different political backgrounds and ideologies, afforded them the opportunity to make input in the constitution amendment.
“This is a very welcome development and I must thank the National Assembly and the UNDP for providing the platform for us to contribute meaningfully to the constitution amendment of our beloved country.”
Tumsah explained that if reflected, the joint recommendations of the political parties would go a long way in strengthening the nation’s democracy and place Nigeria on a formidable stead politically.
For Comrade Miriki Ebikibina, the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), issues of democracy all over the world is a participatory practice, which infers that an appreciable number of youths and women must be given equal playing field to express themselves politically.
In a chat with Daily Independent in Port Harcourt, Miriki argued that there has been no ideological base in defining the present political mission, because “younger elements within the emergent democratic political parties have come to find themselves on the sidelines.”
He expressed regrets that youth and women wings have been integrated into the Executive Council thereby silencing the existence of these “most important aspects of our society.”
The ACN youth leader however attributed the Niger Delta militancy, Boko Haram insurgency in the North and other youth restiveness in the country to the inability of the political class to assign position of responsibility to the militant youths.
Succinctly, many people have argued that the National Assembly would face a herculean task of amending the entire constitution, given the number of items that must be considered for amendment.
In the 1960 constitution, for instance, there were 44 items on the Exclusive List while the Concurrent List had 28 items. On that basis, as the country progressed to a Republican democracy in 1963 with 45 and 29 items in the Exclusive and Concurrent lists respectively, analysts said this is even too cumbersome.
Today, the 1999 Constitution carries as much as 68 items on the Exclusive List. Professor Kimse Okoko, a retired Professor of Political Science from the University of Port Harcourt, observed that with this cumbersome items entrenched in the nation’s constitution, it would be of a huge hindrance to the National Assembly.
“Let me repeat here that the attempt to amend the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly is an effort in futility. It is a job in futility because they are not empowered to comprehensively amend the constitution.
“What they are trying to do is to review the constitution. They can amend one or two areas of the constitution not a comprehensive aspect of it. That is not their mandate. It is an exercise in futility. There are thirty or more items in that constitution that they want to amend. How will that happen? That is a comprehensive review”, Okoko said.
If the position of the NRPP is accepted by the National Assembly, Section 228 (c) will have to be further looked into to provide that political parties that maintain a minimum of 35 percent women in all its executive bodies shall receive additional grants from the INEC. This will in no less measure brighten the chances of the 35 percent affirmative action by women.
Dr. Osita Okereke, National Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), believes that creating more space to accommodate women in the nation’s political space would not only ease tension that is associated with elections, but would promote a good sense of equality.
“We are here in Port Harcourt to harmonise that process of making our input in the constitution amendment. If 50 or 60 percent of what we agreed on could be implemented, then Nigeria would be better for it,” Okereke said.
“What we are doing is to see how to help Nigerian democracy by making women and children to participate well in our politics. We should accommodate our women in politics. We have also deliberated on how we can come up with a transparent judiciary. It is a common saying that judiciary is the last hope of a common man. But here in Nigeria, if you don’t have billions, you can’t have justice in this country,” the National Chairman of African Liberation Party (ALP) explained.
In his opinion, Tijjani Musa Tumsah, National Secretary of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), said the Uyo and Port Harcourt meetings apart from reuniting the various political parties despite their different political backgrounds and ideologies, afforded them the opportunity to make input in the constitution amendment.
“This is a very welcome development and I must thank the National Assembly and the UNDP for providing the platform for us to contribute meaningfully to the constitution amendment of our beloved country.”
Tumsah explained that if reflected, the joint recommendations of the political parties would go a long way in strengthening the nation’s democracy and place Nigeria on a formidable stead politically.
For Comrade Miriki Ebikibina, the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), issues of democracy all over the world is a participatory practice, which infers that an appreciable number of youths and women must be given equal playing field to express themselves politically.
In a chat with Daily Independent in Port Harcourt, Miriki argued that there has been no ideological base in defining the present political mission, because “younger elements within the emergent democratic political parties have come to find themselves on the sidelines.”
He expressed regrets that youth and women wings have been integrated into the Executive Council thereby silencing the existence of these “most important aspects of our society.”
The ACN youth leader however attributed the Niger Delta militancy, Boko Haram insurgency in the North and other youth restiveness in the country to the inability of the political class to assign position of responsibility to the militant youths.
Succinctly, many people have argued that the National Assembly would face a herculean task of amending the entire constitution, given the number of items that must be considered for amendment.
In the 1960 constitution, for instance, there were 44 items on the Exclusive List while the Concurrent List had 28 items. On that basis, as the country progressed to a Republican democracy in 1963 with 45 and 29 items in the Exclusive and Concurrent lists respectively, analysts said this is even too cumbersome.
Today, the 1999 Constitution carries as much as 68 items on the Exclusive List. Professor Kimse Okoko, a retired Professor of Political Science from the University of Port Harcourt, observed that with this cumbersome items entrenched in the nation’s constitution, it would be of a huge hindrance to the National Assembly.
“Let me repeat here that the attempt to amend the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly is an effort in futility. It is a job in futility because they are not empowered to comprehensively amend the constitution.
“What they are trying to do is to review the constitution. They can amend one or two areas of the constitution not a comprehensive aspect of it. That is not their mandate. It is an exercise in futility. There are thirty or more items in that constitution that they want to amend. How will that happen? That is a comprehensive review”, Okoko said.
He remarked that for strong democracy, every federating unit must be allowed to own and control its resources. That is the fundamental thing that can guarantee the freedom. “We are still enslaved in this country because people dictate to us what we should take from our own resources. I don’t see this National Assembly doing that because those who have vested interest in the National Assembly will make it difficult for such change to take place. In the 2005 National Political Conference that was what made me to lead a ‘walk-out’. They country could not even approve the 25 percent increase that we demanded. I don’t see this present National Assembly increasing the derivation to 25, not even 20 percent. This is a key area.
“The other one is the issue of having three languages as official languages in the constitution. That aspect of the constitution must be removed because you are not helping to unify the country by so doing. We have over 250 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria and you just identify only three languages as official languages. That is not right. It is completely unacceptable. These three languages have also been inscribed on the national currencies.”
The trend, Okoko pointed out, was a sign of ethnocentrism for Yoruba, Hausa and Ibo insignias to remain on the currencies. “What about the rest? If you insist we must have Azikiwe, Balewa, Sarduana on the currency that is all right by me because they are historical pictures of this country.
“But to have markings that portray certain ethnic groups to the detriment of others is what I am not happy about. I don’t expect anything good to come out of this amendment process. It is an exercise in futility because they will still leave the 1999 constitution as bogus as it is. With the 1999 constitution in place, there is no way Nigeria can move forward. We will continue to wallow in poverty and darkness.”
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