By JOSEPH ERUNKE

…Threatens govs’ tenure in Anambra, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states

LIKE he had always done on matters that tend to place obstacles to the smooth execution of his assignments, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, did not exhibit any different disposition when on Wednesday, December 12, 2012, he answered reporters’ questions on some of his challenges regarding Nigerian general elections which conduct spread across three weeks.

And one of the key issues the reporters had sought his view on was that bothering on staggering elections in the country. Apart from not sounding indifferent to the issue, as always known to be, he was coherent in his response to the subject matter. The INEC boss gave answers that seemed to his guests as if he had prepared them and was waiting for the time to come!

”Under normal circumstances, elections should not be staggered. The normal way it is done globally is to have elections the same day. There is staggering of elections in Nigeria because of necessity resulting from court judgments.

We should work towards ensuring that our elections are conducted in a free, fair and credible manner. I think that in future, not 2015, elections should be held in same day in line with global practices and Nigeria should move in that direction in the future”, he told the newsmen.

Recall that since beginning of the present Fourth Republic in May 29, 1999, elections into the legislative and executive arms of government are not conducted the same day. INEC usually conducts the presidential, governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections on different days or at times slate the elections for two or three weekends.

But in recent times, the governorship elections seem to be creating more drama in the country, considering how some of the state governors emerged. In the last six years, six or seven persons have been declared as governors through Election Tribunal and Court of Appeal verdicts.

This position, coming from the INEC’s chairman, has since been a subject of concern in certain quarters in Nigeria, particularly, operators of some states that would be affected if his proposal sails through relevant stakeholders and the National Assembly.

Why will it not be so, considering what he is capable of doing? Yes, there is every reason for some states, especially some state governors to feel concerned, given the extent to which the chairman of the electoral umpire could go to achieve his desired aim. Afterall, when he went to court to challenge the tenure of five state governors, he won at the Supreme Court. Again, when he told some weak political parties to get ready to be shown the way out of the Nigerian political corridors, those who dared him are now in court seeking the court’s nod to return to the positions they lost through his action.

”It is possible and not impossible to hold all the elections in one day; it is just that we have not addressed all our minds to it and all politicians and stakeholders are not really joining hands in order to ensure the success of the process.

Jega…INEC boss

Case for scattered polls
Staggered elections are not cost-effective and they are not cost-efficient and they are expensive”, Jega had argued.

Jega, no doubt, scored some points here, in his same-day election proposal as since 1999, most of the elections in the country have been marred by malpractices such as multiple voting, ballot box snatching, late arrival or diversion of electoral materials and other forms of rigging.

During elections, restriction of movement is usually imposed, resulting in the closure of the country’s borders, including the seaports and airports, while intra and inter-city vehicular movements are severely curtailed.

As a result, economic activities are brought to a halt. Markets are firmly under lock. Sometimes, schools are shut down and their premises taken over for use as polling venues. The real cost is no doubt, immeasurable.

Besides, a lot of money also goes into providing logistics for the different stages of the elections. Everything that should have been provided once is now replicated several times, depending on the number of phases into which the elections may be divided. Staggered elections also have a way of impinging on the turnouts.

If the voters’ interest lies just in only one election, say the presidential election, there may be lower turnouts in elections other than the presidential elections. This may not be so if all the elections are held in one day.

Constitutional hurdle
But in as much as the proposal coming from the INEC chairman is garnering support, the great challenge which such development would throw to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should also be taken into cognizance.

The National Assembly in the 2010 Electoral Act (As Amended),had taken care of the cases involving six states, namely, Cross River, Adawawa, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Delta respectively which governors had bounced back to their positions in the various governorship by-elections in their states after elections that had brought them to their offices were nullified.

The country’s legislative house had amended the Electoral Act, thus providing that in an event where a governorship election is nullified by the court and the governor whose election is nullified re-contests and wins, he would merely complete the remaining term of office, contrary to earlier provision that such governor starts a fresh four-year tenure, beginning from the day he takes a fresh oath of office. The implication of this is that the tenure of current governors of these states ends in May 29, 2015.

Fate of Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Osun, Bayelsa
But the issue of great concern as far as the Jega proposal is concerned, is the fate of states like Rivers, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Bayelsa,Ekiti and Osun, which, going by the 1999 constitution, cannot witness governorship elections with other states of the federation again, considering the circumstances that brought the governors of those states to their offices.

Dr. Chris Ngige of Anambra State, under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was the first governor, whose victory was nullified by a Court of Appeal in 2006, thus paving the way for Mr. Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, to assume the position of the governor in 2006.

The outcome of the 2007 general elections also created a lot of confusion in some states leading to the exit of five governors from office while six others were also edged out of their offices temporarily.

The five governors wholost their seats through court verdicts with regard to the 2007 general elections were Celestine Omehia of Rivers State, Oserheimen Osunbor of Edo State, Segun Agagu of Ondo State, Segun Oni of Ekiti State and Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State and just recently, Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State.

They were replaced by Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole, Segun Mimiko, Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola  and Seriake Dickson respectively.

Considering the constitutional provision which states that the tenure of office of a governor starts from the day he is sworn into office, the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the above governors forced INEC to conduct staggered elections in those states.

Since the commencement of staggered elections by INEC in Anambra State governorship elections in February 6, 2010 and other subsequent states after the 2007 and 2011 general elections, a lot of issues have  been raised over the manner they were held at separate times.

What the constitution says
Section 180 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as regards the term of a governor states thus: “A governor of a state shall have a tenure of four years from the date he takes the Oath of Allegiance and of Office and nothing more, though he may spend less where he dies, resigns or is impeached.

It has been argued that the tenure of four years envisaged in the 1999 Constitution is a single unbroken tenure but that submission loses sight of the glaring fact that the provisions of Section 180(2) does not expect or envisage an indefinite occupier of the office of governor of a state that is why the tenure is very definite: Four years.

As seen, if the INEC proposal gets the blessing of the stakeholders, including those saddled with the responsibility of amending the constitution, this is one move that will pose a great challenge to Section 180 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as far as the fate of the affected states is concerned.

Opposition to same day polls
Those opposed to Jega’s proposal argued that  when compared, the outcome of the general elections with the staggered ones, there is a wide difference in terms of logistics and security. During general elections, there are always scanty presence of security officials for elections duties considering that they take place simultaneously in all the nook and crannies of the country.

But during staggered election, the presence of the security officials, especially Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Mobile and conventional Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and others security personnel are usually felt in all the nook and crannies of the state where the election is taking place.

In fact to many analysts, there is always ‘over-security’ during staggered elections. In term of logistics and deployment of INEC officials and materials, there is more presence of INEC officials during staggered elections in a state than those of general elections.

Staggered elections
For example, during the last October 20 governorship election in Ondo State, 18 Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs, were deployed to the state to serve as returning officers in each of the local government areas of the state.

While some people believe that Nigeria should join other countries of the world in conducting all general elections in one day, some are of the view that Nigeria is not ripe enough to hold all general elections in a day.

Those kicking against holding all elections in a day believe that something good may not come out of the idea, considering the various logistics problems faced by INEC during election period.

Another crucial issue being raised against INEC’s decision to hold all elections the same day is what will become the fate of those governors who were products of staggered elections? Will they be allowed to finish their terms or an interim or sole administrators appointed to hold forth till all the governors are sworn into office the same date?

As seen, the debate on the same-day elections proposal will throw a major challenge to Section 180 (2) of the 1999 Constitution. How proponents of this intend to handle that portion of the nation’s constitution is a question that will be answered with time.