‘Partisan RECs’ as obstacles to credible elections

Despite the public outcry against President Bola Tinubu’s nominations of allegedly partisan persons as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), the Senate confirmed them. Stakeholders ponder the domino effect on future elections, the integrity of the electoral umpire, INEC, and how it could further compound Nigeria’s leadership challenge, KEHINDE OLATUNJI reports.

Few weeks ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed 10 new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to serve for a term of five years each.

The newly appointed RECs included Etekamba Umoren (Akwa Ibom State), Isah Shaka Ehimeakne (Edo State), Oluwatoyin Babalola (Ekiti State), Abubakar Ahmed Ma’aji (Gombe State), ShehuWahab (Kwara State), and Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi (Lagos State). Others are Aminu Kasimu Idris (Nasarawa State), Prof. Mohammed Yelwa (Niger State), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha (Rivers State) and Isma’ila Kaura Moyi (Zamfara State).

Though the nominees have subsequently been confirmed by the Senate, stakeholders have questioned the appointment of some of the RECs, noting that they are registered members of political parties and aides of politicians, in contravention of section 156(1)(a) of the Nigerian constitution, which prohibits the appointment of any member of a political party as a member of INEC.

Some observers contended that the appointments by President Tinubu would affect the credibility of future elections negatively. This, in their view, is because RECs are responsible for the conduct and supervision of elections in a State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), supervise the recruitment and training of staff for elections; take delivery of all sensitive and non-sensitive materials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters and distribute them to all Electoral Officers.
Given their crucial role, RECs are expected to be non-partisan, even as the electoral umpire, INEC is expected to be truly independent.

The Constitution, in section 156(1)(a), prohibits the appointment of any member of a political party as a member of INEC. To further ensure the neutrality of INEC members, the Constitution mandates in the Third Schedule, Part 1, Item F, paragraph 14 (1) that a Resident Electoral Commissioner shall be non-partisan and a person of unquestionable integrity.

It is against this background that many stakeholders and Nigerians kicked at the appointment of members and party loyalists, who are allegedly not only members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) but have publicly declared their membership and campaigned for the party, wearing attires of the party at campaigns and public events.

For instance, Umoren served as an aide to the current President of the Senate, Dr. GodswillAkpabio when he was the Governor of AkwaIbom State. He also served as the Chief of Staff to the President of the Senate when he was the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

Umoren’s deep involvement in partisan politics is a matter of public knowledge as he publicly defected, along with his boss, Akpabio, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC in 2018. There are also several photographs of Umoren in APC attires while attending the party’s campaign rallies and media report of his defection.

Besides, in 2015, Umoren, ex-secretary to the state government of Akwa Ibom, was indicted for alleged financial malpractice when Akpabio was grilled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This bothers on the latter part of the aspect of the Nigerian Constitution, which stipulates that anyone to be so appointed into the role of REC must be “a person of unquestionable integrity.”

For Ehimeakne of Edo State, there are public displays of support for the ruling party both online and offline. As such, he is believed to be a card-carrying member of the APC.

Before his appointment, through his Facebook page, Isah Shaka, he undertook campaigns for the APC and its candidates. This depicts his partisanship, which disqualifies him from being appointed as a REC, which statutorily requires neutrality and non-partisanship in line with constitutional provisions.

In December 2019, the Senate stood down the nomination of Mr Olalekan Raheem from Osun State as REC because he was a card-carrying member of the APC.

Also in 2021, the Senate rejected the nomination of Lauretta Onochie, presidential aide, who was nominated for the job by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Her nomination had sparked outrage over concerns that she is a member of the APC, even though she claimed to have resigned her membership of the ruling party in 2019. After much demonstration against Onochie’s nomination by Nigerians, her nomination was stood down.

To ensure the neutrality of the electoral umpire, extant Nigerian law forbids the appointment of members of political parties as resident electoral commissioners, individuals who coordinate INEC activities in different states. But, for President Tinubu, this requirement apparently exists only in theory. Besides Umoren and Shaka, at least two of the RECs nominated are also known to have ties with him, his allies, the APC or politicians in his government. They are Omoseyindemi and Onuoha.

A review of the duo’s digital and non-digital footprints indicate a bias for the ruling party and their leaning towards Tinubu and his allies before, during and after the 2023 general elections.

For instance, the Lagos REC, Omoseyindemi had enjoyed a warm political patronage from Tinubu and his allies since 2001. He was appointed chairman of the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board in 2001 when Tinubu governed the state, a position he held until 2015.

In 2016, he was appointed an electoral commissioner in the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) by the then governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who was also an ally of Tinubu at the time.

Another REC, Onuoha is an ally of a top official of the Tinubu administration. He has been close to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. Onuoha was a Special Adviser on Lands and Surveys to Wike until 2019 when he was crowned a traditional leader in Rumuepirikom, Obio/Akpor Local Council Area in the state, the same community Wike hails from.

However, before he was appointed as a Special Adviser to Wike, he had, in 2007, served as the Commissioner, Legal and Political Parties Monitoring at the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC). He was one of the nine-member RSIEC Electoral Commissioners sworn in by the then Governor Rotimi Amaechi, in 2007.

Speaking on the development, former chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, said it is not too late for the president to review the appointment in order to remove the partisan ones.

This is as he said such partisanship created a scenario that happened during Adamawa State gubernatorial election, where the REC declared APC candidate winner misguidedly.

He said: “I recommend that to be able to deal with this kind of situation, the Senate must be serious about screening people who are nominated for appointment, especially INEC. The law is very clear, those to be nominated, either as REC, or National Commissioners or even the chairman of the umpire, are people who are supposed to be non-partisan and whose integrity is unquestionable.

“But, in a situation where somebody will look away when the person is a politician or member of a political party and influence their appointment, and the senate will also not do a thorough investigation about this, then you end up with this kind of crisis. I’m worried.

“I advise that the president immediately reviews the appointment of the RECs. It is very important, because clearly, not only does it send a wrong signal about the government’s intention to improve the integrity of elections, it also suggests that there is indifference with regards to protecting the independence and impartiality of the election management body.

“I want to believe that the president was either misinformed or merely furnished with all the necessary details with regards to this appointment. If it’s established that the people appointed are partisan or registered members of a political party contrary to the legal provisions, the right thing should be done and corrections should be made.”

He stressed the need for the Senate to be alive to its responsibilities, noting that the normal thing to do when recommendations are made is to send it to the committee, which would have the time to do a thorough review of the details of all the people appointed before it gets to the plenary.

Jega, who agreed that it was important to unbundle INEC, added that the commission was saddled with too much responsibility, which was affecting other core responsibilities of the commission.

“I strongly support the recommendation that the appointment of the Chairman, the National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners should be reviewed. I think the conventional method in which the president nominates and invariably what the president nominates does not go through rigorous screening and is basically supported by the legislature, must be avoided.

“We need to ensure the legal provisions about non-partisanship, about integrity of the people nominated are actually taken seriously,” he added.

Executive Director of civil society organisation, YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, also faulted the decision of the Senate to confirm the appointments of partisan people as RECs.

He said the fact that they were confirmed despite the petitions against their nominations showed that the nation’s democracy is being run “without democrats.”

“The Senate President refused to refer the matter to the relevant committee and they went ahead to confirm these people. There were petitions that were submitted against these people, especially the two nominees that Nigerians have raised flags against while the public space is flooded with images and videos of these individuals,” Itodo recalled.

He said the only way to ensure electoral justice in Nigeria was by unbundling INEC as the commission at the moment was over-burdened.

On his part, Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, said the problems facing INEC in conducting credible elections would be complicated by the appointment of members of political parties as Resident Electoral Officers.

“You can’t have a card-carrying member of a political party or a loyalist of a political party as a Resident Electoral Commissioner or a national commissioner; you complicate the problem for INEC to have credible elections,” Falana said.

Falana, who said three of the appointees are members of the APC while one is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), condemned the development.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC in Akwa Ibom contended that Umoren was partisan, saying wearing APC’s regalia is not enough to say Umoren is a member of the party.

“Umoren is a bureaucrat. He served in Akwa Ibom state as a permanent secretary. He is a career civil servant. He was chief of staff and then SSG, not to serve a political party but a government.