2019s: Between political accountability and electoral integrity

Jide Ojo

As we count down to Nigeria’s next general election which is 80
days away, I took it upon myself to unravel the mystery of the
country’s electoral albatross and found out that legally, the
framers of our laws have done the needful to ensure credible
elections. Today, I am looking at the provisions of the law meant
to enhance political accountability and electoral integrity.

Starting with the appointment of the leadership of the electoral
body, I mean Chairman and 12 national commissioners as well as the
37 Resident Electoral Commissioners of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, better known as INEC, they are meant to be
men and women of integrity. In fact, their appointments are
“double-decker.” Though they are appointed by the President, this
is subject to the confirmation by the Senate. According to Section
14 of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, as amended, these appointees shall be
non-partisan and persons of unquestionable integrity.

It should be noted that prior to the 2010 constitution
amendment, it was possible to appoint card-carrying members of
political parties into INEC because of the provision of Section 156
(2) of the Constitution which then required that for anyone to be
appointed into all the 14 federal executive bodies listed in
Section 153 of the Constitution, they must satisfy conditions
similar to those of an aspirant into House of Representatives which
in Section 65 (2) (b) of the Constitution make it mandatory to be a
member of a political party. It is gratifying that the error has
been corrected.

As part of efforts to ensure electoral integrity, the Electoral
Act 2010, as amended herein referred to as the Act in Section 10
(2) expects anyone who wants to register to vote to apply in person
(that is, there is no voter registration by proxy). That section
also requires anyone who wants to register to come with a means of
identification, be it birth or baptismal certificate, Driving
Licence, travel document, National Identity Card and “any other
document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the
applicant.” Were these provisions strictly adhered to, we would not
have had cases of underage persons and foreign nationals on our
national register of voters.

In order to further enhance the integrity of the voter register,
INEC in 2011 introduced advanced biometric voter registration where
both the face and fingerprints of registrants are captured on the
Direct Data Capturing Machine. Recall that the 2006 Voter Register
of INEC was so flawed that it was reported that names of deceased
and non-Nigerians featured prominently on the register. This was
why Prof. Attahiru Jega insisted on compiling a fresh voter
register when he was appointed chairman of INEC in June 2010. As
part of enhancing the integrity of our voter register, Section 19
of the Act makes it mandatory for INEC to display the voter list
for between five and 14 days to give opportunity for voters to make
“objection and complaints in relation to the names omitted or
included in the voter register or in relation to any necessary
correction.” This was recently done between November 6 and 12,
2018.

Did you know that INEC’s introduction of the chip-embedded
Permanent Voter Card and Smart Card Reader in 2014 was to enhance
electoral integrity? These were regarded as the game changer in the
2015 general election. This is because unlike in the 2011 elections
when Nigerians voted with the Temporary Voter Card which could not
be electronically verified, in the last general election, the
introduction of the PVC and the SCR for purposes of accreditation
of voters was helpful in making sure that those who voted were
actual persons who had registered and that no one had opportunity
of voting more than once.

Again, as part of measures to shore up the credibility of our
elections, Section 45 of the Act recognises and allows all
political parties to submit names of their Polling Agents to INEC
and to deploy them after accreditation by the commission. Section
43 (4) of the Act entitles Polling Agents to be present at the
distribution of election materials as well as being present at
voting, counting, collation and announcement of election results.
Section 50 of the Act says “A candidate or a Polling Agent may
challenge the right of a person to receive a ballot paper on such
grounds and in accordance with the procedures as are provided for
in this Act.” Did you know that, according to Section 63 (3) of the
Act, Polling Agents are entitled to copies of election results they
supervise? Unfortunately, many candidates and political parties do
not deploy agents to represent their interest at elections.

It is in a bid to enhance electoral integrity that the Electoral
Act in Section 61recognises the presence of INEC Accredited
Election Observers at Polling Units.

On the part of political accountability, the law also spoke! To
prevent corruption of our electoral process, 1999 Constitution of
Nigeria, as amended forbids political parties from receiving
foreign donation. Section 225 (3) of the groundnorm states that “No
political party shall – (a) hold or possess any funds or other
assets outside Nigeria, or (b) be entitled to retain any funds or
assets remitted or sent to it from outside Nigeria.”

There are also several disclosure principles in our law aimed at
ensuring political accountability. Section 225 (2) of the
constitution states that “ Every political party shall submit to
INEC a detailed annual statement and analysis of its sources of
funds and other assets together with a similar statement of its
expenditure in such form as the Commission may require.” According
to S. 226. – (1) “INEC shall in every year prepare and submit to
the National Assembly a report on the accounts and balance sheet of
every political party.”

According to S. 89 (4) of the Act, INEC is mandated to publish
the report on the independent audit of the account books of
political parties in three national newspapers. Is this being done
by the regulatory agency? Section 92 (3) says, “Election expenses
of a political party shall be submitted to the commission in a
separate audited return within six months after an election…” How
many political parties are in compliance of this law? What sanction
has INEC brought to bear on erring political parties?

Section 92 (6) of the Act makes it mandatory for political
parties to publish the election expenses report submitted to INEC
in at least two national newspapers. In order to further enhance
political accountability, Section 92 (8) states that, “The
commission shall make available for public inspection during
regular business hours at its headquarters and state offices the
audit returns of the political parties required by sub-section (3)
of this section which shall include the names, addresses,
occupation, and amount contributed by each contributor to a
party.”

According to Section 93 (4) of the Act, “A political party
sponsoring the election of a candidate shall, within three months
after the announcement of the results of the election, file a
report of the contributions made by individuals and entities to the
commission.” Also, in order to enhance electoral integrity and
political accountability, Sections 124 and 130 of the Electoral Act
2010, as amended has criminalised bribery, vote-buying and other
forms of inducements in the electoral process.

It is worth mentioning that the culture of political debates
which is being institutionalised by the Nigerian media and civil
society organisations is a part of measures to promote political
accountability. On Thursday, November 22, 2018, the Nigerian
Election Debate Group and the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria
announced schedules for the 2019 presidential election debates.
According to the Group, the vice-presidential debate would hold on
December 14, 2018, while presidential debate would hold on January
19, 2019 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

– Follow me on Twitter @Jideojong

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