(Onitsha Nigeria, 14th
of May 2016)-The leadership of International
Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), supported
by other nine group-members of the Southeast
Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) had on 11th
of May 2016 dragged Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
to 20 world’s leading democracies and great economies under the UN System,
concerning hardened and ill-conceived position of the Commission over
outstanding parliamentary rerun polls in Nigeria and its consequential capacity
to collapse Nigeria’s fragile democracy and constitutionalism if unchecked. The
letter was addressed to the United Nations Secretary General; Apostolic Nuncio
(Pope’s Ambassador to Nigeria); United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (UNHCHR); United States Ambassador to Nigeria; Head, Delegation of the
European Union to Nigeria & ECOWAS; EU High Representative for Foreign
Affairs & Security (Federica Mogherini); British High Commissioner to
Nigeria; Head, African Research Group/Dep. Head/Research Analyst of the UK Foreign
& Commonwealth Office (Dr. Clare Thomas) and the Ambassador of the Federal
Republic of Germany to Nigeria.
Others are the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria; Ambassador
of the Republic of France to Nigeria; Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria; Swedish
Ambassador to Nigeria; Austrian Ambassador to Nigeria; Ambassador of the
Netherlands to Nigeria; Ambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria; Belgian Ambassador
to Nigeria; Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria; Australian High Commissioner to
Nigeria; and Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria. The seven-page letter was
also copied to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President Ike
Ekweremadu, House of Reps Speaker Yakubu Dogara, INEC Chairman Mahmud Yakubu,
and Attorney General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, SAN. The letter had
successfully been delivered electronically and in hard copies to their
recipients.
Below is the second and concluding part of the letter;
first part of it(http://www.intersociety-ng.org/component/k2/item/132-before-inec-collapses-democracy-in-nigeria)
was made public on 12th of May 2016. The rest of the letter reads as
follows: In Anambra Central Senatorial District, the appellate court order for
the conduct of a rerun election into its vacant seat was made by the Enugu
Division of the Court of Appeal on 6th of December 2015 and it
expired on 6th of March 2016. In Imo North Senatorial District, the
order of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division was made on 11th of
December 2015 and it expired on 11th of March 2016, with INEC
observing it in gross breach. Two vacant State Legislative Assembly seats are
also outstanding in Imo State till date. The ninety days order of the Court of Appeal,
Abuja Division to INEC to conduct and conclude a rerun election into the vacant
Kogi East Senatorial District seat was made on 2nd of December 2015
and it expired on 2nd of March 2016.
Be further informed Your Excellencies that we had on 20th of April 2016
written the Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmud Yakubu concerning the subject matter
above and called on the Commission to urgently fix new dates for the conduct
and conclusion of all outstanding parliamentary elections arising from the 2015
main elections, on account of their judicial nullifications. We complained
bitterly, too, that over twelve months after the 2015 general elections were
held, the Commission has failed to conduct and conclude its balloting processes
in contravention of the existing electoral laws and judicial orders above cited.
Link to the said letter of ours is provided below: http://intersociety-ng.org/component/k2/item/116-non-conduct-of-outstanding-legislative-reruns-in-imo-anambra--rivers-states-is-an-invitation-to-anarchy. On 27th of April 2016,
the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria passed a resolution urging INEC
to fix new dates, conduct and conclude all outstanding parliamentary elections
or reruns including six vacant senatorial seats under reference. The link to
the published resolution of the Senate is provided below: http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/28/senate-asks-inec-to-conduct-outstanding-senatorial-polls-in-six-districts/.
On 29th of April 2016, the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a statement, ignoring Intersociety
and Senate’s clarion calls on the Commission to act lawfully by
conducting and concluding the said outstanding rerun polls. The Commission
admitted observing the court orders in breach and restated its indefinite
postponement of all the outstanding parliamentary rerun elections in Anambra,
Rivers, Kogi and Imo States; citing “violence and insecurity of its staffs”.
The link to its said statement is provided below: http://www.elombah.com/index.php/reports/6662-breaking-inec-suspends-outstanding-2015-elections-indefinitely.
The Commission had few weeks ago conducted and concluded elections in the
Federal Capital Territorial and other outstanding reruns in Osun State, etc.
Till date, the Commission is still withholding some results of the poor rerun
polls it conducted in Rivers State on 19th of March 2016; a period
of 52 days.
To use “insecurity” as a cover to deny over 20 million
population their rights to effective, popular and deliberative representation
at the National Assembly of Nigeria since December 2015, in this trying period
in the life of Nigeria’s statehood that requires round-the-clock aggregation
and congregation of the common interests of all ethnic nationalities in matters
of legislative democracy; is the worst undoing of INEC. The Commission’s independence,
credibility and impartiality are seriously under threats.
In Anambra Central Senatorial District, the Commission
goofed unpardonably by becoming so partisan that it became an interested and
biased third party on the issue of “who or which party is to be included in the
rerun or otherwise”. Even when the Commission was ordered judgmentally on 1st
of March 2016 by the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to allow one of
the participating political parties; which the Commission magisterially barred
from contesting; to contest and field its new candidate, following extraneous
circumstances, the Commission, rather than obeying the order and complying with
the judgment; rushed and filed an appeal, challenging the Court judgment. Till
date, nothing is heard from the said appeal filed weeks after the judgment; a
period of over 40 days. The Commission also issued a statement, postponing the
Senatorial rerun indefinitely. Instances of INEC’s gross misconducts that are
capable of collapsing Nigeria’s fragile democracy abound. Also by law and Nigeria’s democracy, policies and conducts
of all public bodies and persons in Nigeria including INEC are subject to
judicial reviews and pronouncements.
In modern democracies, States exist to protect their
citizens and ensure their welfares at all times. This is commonly referred to
as “sovereignty
as a responsibility” or “citizens’ sovereignty”. In Nigeria’s 1999
Constitution, her Section 14 (2) (b) mandates or compulsorily provides that “the security
and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the Government”
and (c) “the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured,
in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”. It is
therefore abominable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
to shift the responsibility of “providing security and violence free
environment” for conduct and conclusion of its outstanding rerun polls, to the
voting population; failing which the Commission announced indefinite suspension
of all outstanding rerun polls.
As delicate and dicey as the then Boko Haram affected
Northeast Nigeria was, yet the then Prof Attahiru Jega led INEC successfully
conducted elections in the area. We have suspected and still suspect strongly
that INEC’s excuses for suspending the said rerun polls are politically
motivated and ill-conceived. The Commission may most likely be acting a script
of the federal ruling party and the presidency in Nigeria for the purpose of
muscling or decimating the strength of the federal opposition party and
geopolitical zones at the country’s National Assembly. The Southeast and the
South-south geopolitical zones are the country’s known opposition strongholds
in the present political dispensation. Also, the areas where outstanding parliamentary
rerun polls are suspended by the Commission are majorly controlled by the
opposition zones and political parties.
We, therefore, call on Your Excellencies to intervene diplomatically and bring pressure to
bear on INEC before it collapses the country’s fragile democracy. Other than Your Excellencies’ immense positive
diplomatic influences wield over the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we are also
aware that each of Your Excellencies’ home
governments sets aside every year robust development aid or grant packages for
Nigeria, which run into hundreds of millions of dollars, pounds or Euros, in
aid or support of the country’s advancement in democracy, electoral reform,
rule of law, humanitarianism, human rights and security.
We are further aware that the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) is a major recipient of these development aids or
interventions, either directly or through codified or budgetary means. We are
aware, too, that UK alone, for instance, has set aside 250Million British
Pounds in development aid to Nigeria for 2016. These development interventions
are strictly guided by a set of rules or conditions, which include credibility,
accountability, impartiality and neutrality of INEC and its obedience to rule
of law; justice and electoral reforms; respect for human rights including civil
and political rights as well as security of the citizens and popular conduct of
periodic elections under one-person-one-vote doctrine. Your Excellencies’ diplomatic intervention under demand is also in
furtherance of the advancement of the purposes and principles of the United
Nations which include promotion of democracy, local and international peace and
security; protection of human rights and advancement of democratic free speech
and good governance.
INEC should, therefore, be called upon and monitored
by Your Excellencies to ensure that
it does not become a roguish and parasitic electoral commission capable of
collapsing Nigeria’s fragile democracy. The Commission must be mirrored
transparently by Your Excellencies to
justify its continued supports from Your
Excellencies’ home governments. The Commission’s adamant refusal and woeful
failure to conduct and conclude the referenced outstanding parliamentary rerun
elections as ordered by law and courts should strongly be condemned in
unmistakable terms by Your Excellencies.
INEC should specifically be called upon by Your Excellencies to fix new dates for
the said polls, conduct and conclude same inexcusably. It is also the
constitutional duty of the Commission and the security agencies in Nigeria; not
the voting population, to provide security and ensure absence of violence
during such polls. The best way to ensure these is for the Commission to play
by the rules and refrain from being seen or perceived by the public and other
involved parties as “interested or compromised third party”. The Board of INEC,
which is yet to be fully or properly constituted by the Senate and the Presidency
in accordance with Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, should also be properly done
through Your Excellencies’ diplomatic
pressures, as a matter of uttermost immediacy and extreme public importance so
as to ensure the Commission’s true credibility and independence.
Yours
Faithfully,
For:
International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi,
Board Chairman
Mobile Line:
+2348174090052
Obianuju
Joy Igboeli, Esq., Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile
Line: +2348180771506
Chinwe
Umeche, Esq., Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Mobile
Line: +2347013238673
Website:
www.intersociety-ng.org
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