Politics
Executive Defection: Independent Candidacy To The Rescue
It is common ground that under the present constitutional arrangement in Nigeria, independent candidacy in an election is expressly outlawed. A community reading of the proviso to section 40 and section 221 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, buttress that only registered political parties are authorised to canvass for votes for a candidate in an election.
Put tersely, a candidate in an election must be sponsored by an INEC registered political party.
This present position of the law (no independent candidate in an election), has thrown up confusion in the polity leading to diametrically opposed or divergent views about who owns the votes cast in an election especially in relation to members of the executive arm of government, who may choose to decamp after being elected into office on the platform of a political party.
Throughout the gamut of constitution, there is no express provision barring or prohibiting an elected member of the executive arm of Government from decamping.
This is unlike what is expressly obtainable under the provisions of sections 68(1)(g) and 109(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) where an elected member of the National Assembly or State House of Assembly respectively is (subject to recognised exceptions therein) liable to vacate his seat if he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which he was elected.
Answering the query to whom does the votes cast in an election belong has therefore become very problematic.
Some argue that the votes belong to the political party because, among other things, it is the party (its logo not name or photograph of the candidate) that is voted on election day. It is the exclusive constitutional preroga-tive of the party to sponsor candidates in an election.
On the contrary, others contend that votes cast in an election belong to the candidate because the party does not go for screening of candidates and the Certificate of Return is issued to the candidate in his name and not in the name of the political party.
They further argue that the Certificate of Return is issued to a named candidate of a political party (for instance, issued to Prof of APC as the winner) and not for the party (for instance, issued to Prof for APC as the winner).
All the sides of the argument are attractive and carry forceful convincing logic.
No person can win an election if he is not sponsored by a political party. No party can win an election if it does not have a candidate in an election.
This is like Siamese (thoracapagus con-joined) twins situation or resolving the query of seniority between the egg and chicken (which came first).
Even the courts are also divided on the matter of who owns the votes in an election where an elected member of the executive arm of government defects to another political party following from the types of judicial decisions that emanate from the lower superior courts of record lately.
It is thus settled that it will only take the Supreme Court to decide the matter conclusively on a final appeal.
Even at that, opinions will continue to be divided if the constitutional provi-sions remain the way they are presently couched and if the Constitution continues to outlaw independent candidacy in an election.
To break this serious deadlock, it is strongly suggested that the Constitution be amended to allow independent candidacy in an election. That way, the present nagging debates about the owner of votes cast in an election will be laid to rest permanently.
With this proposed constitutional amend-ment in favour of independent candidacy, if a person contests an election as an independent candidate, the argument as to who owns the votes will never arise. The votes surely belong to him.
Where on the other hand, a person is a sponsored candidate of a political party, it will no longer be open for that person to claim that the votes belong to him and not to the political party on whose platform he contested and won the election.
Given the present quagmire, independent candidacy is “a win win situation” and it is consistent with the right to freedom of association enshrined in section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which provides as follows: Every person shall be entitled to assembly freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any association for the protection of his interests.
The right to freedom of association includes not only the right to dissociate but also the freedom to be alone (independent).
We call on our legislature to do the needful and save all the huge verbal expenditure and juristic ink being wasted on a matter that has a simple solution.
A new normal is possible!
By: N.O. Obiaraeri
Obiaraeri resides in Owerri.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has not registered any new political parties.
The commission gave the clarification in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle last Wednesday.
It described the purported report circulated by some online social media platforms on the registration of two new political parties by INEC as fake.
“The attention of INEC has been drawn to a fake report making the rounds about the registration of two new political parties, namely “Independent Democrats (ID)” and “Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM)”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the commission has not yet registered any new party. The current number of registered political parties in Nigeria is 19 and nothing has been added,” it stated.
The commission recalled that both ID and PDM were registered as political parties in August 2013.
INEC further recalled that the two were deregistered in February 2020 in accordance with Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The commission, therefore, urged the public to disregard the said report.
President Bola Tinubu has asked Governor Hyacinth Alia to work more for peace and development of Benue State, saying he was elected to govern, not to bury people.
The President said this while addressing stakeholders at the Government House, Markudi, last Wednesday.
He also called on the governor to set up a peace committee to address some of the issues in the state.
The meeting included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, traditional rulers, and former governors of the state.
The governors of Kwara, Imo, Kogi, Plateau, Ondo, and Nasarawa states also attended the meeting.
“Let us meet again in Abuja. Let’s fashion out a framework for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace. I assure you, we will find peace. We will convert this tragedy into prosperity,” he said.
President Tinubu urged Governor Alia to allocate land for ranching and directed the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security to follow up.
“I wanted to come here to commission projects, to reassure you of hope and prosperity, not to see gloomy faces. But peace is vital to development.
“The value of human life is greater than that of a cow. We were elected to govern, not to bury people”, he stressed.
He charged Governor Alia on working with the Federal Government to restore peace.
“Governor Alia, you were elected under the progressive banner to ensure peace, stability, and progress. You are not elected to bury people or comfort widows and orphans. We will work with you to achieve that peace. You must also work with us”, he said.
In his remarks, Governor Alia appealed to the Federal Government to establish a Special Intervention Fund for communities affected by repeated violent attacks across the state.
“Your Excellency, while we continue to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of pain, we humbly urge the Federal Government to consider establishing a special intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant attacks in Benue State,” he said.
Governor Alia said the fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, reconstruction of destroyed homes and infrastructure, and the restoration of livelihoods, especially for farmers.
He reiterated his support for establishing state police as a lasting solution to insecurity.
The governor pledged his administration’s full commitment to building a safe, stable, prosperous Benue State.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Benue State Traditional Rulers Council, Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ayatse, praised President Tinubu for being the first sitting President to personally visit victims in the hospital in the wake of such a tragedy.
He thanked the President for appointing notable Benue indigenes into key positions, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, while expressing hope that more appointments would follow.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (ret’d), says the Aburi accord collapsed because Chukwuemeka Ojukwu wanted regional governors to control military zones.
Gen. Gowon was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1966 until 1975 when he was deposed in a bloodless coup while Ojukwu was military governor of the then Eastern Region in that span.
In a live television interview recently, Gen. Gowon narrated what transpired after the agreement was reached in Aburi, a town in Ghana.
The meeting that led to the accord took place from January 4 to 5, 1967, with delegates from both sides of the divide making inputs.
The goal was to resolve the political impasse threatening the country’s unity.
The point of the agreement was that each region should be responsible for its own affairs.
During the meeting, delegates arrived at certain resolutions on control and structure of the military. However, the exact agreement reached was the subject of controversy.
The failure of the Aburi accord culminated in Nigeria’s civil war, which lasted from July 6, 1967, to January 15, 1970.
Speaking on what transpired after the agreement, Gen. Gowon said the resolutions should have been discussed further and finalised.
The ex-military leader said he took ill after arriving in Nigeria from Aburi and that Ojukwu went on to make unauthorised statements about the accord.
Gen. Gowon said he did not know where Ojukwu got his version of the agreement from.
“We just went there (Aburi), as far as we were concerned, to meet as officers and then agree to get back home and resolve the problem at home. That was my understanding. But that was not his (Ojukwu) understanding,” he said.
Gen. Gowon said Ojukwu declined the invitation, citing safety concerns.
“I don’t know what accord he (Ojukwu) was reading because he came to the meeting with prepared papers of things he wanted. And, of course, we discussed them one by one, greed on some and disagreed on some.
“For example, to give one of the major issues, we said that the military would be zoned, but the control… He wanted those zones to be commanded by the governor.
“When you have a military zone in the north, it would be commanded by the governor of the military in the north, the military zone in the east would be commanded by him. Of course, we did not agree with that one”, Gen. Gowon added.
Ojukwu died on November 26, 2011 at the age of 78.
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