President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday appointed nine new Resident Electoral Commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission for a term of five years each, subject to the confirmation by the Senate. ⁣

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘President Tinubu appoints nine INEC resident electoral commissioners.’⁣
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They include Isah Ehimeakne (Edo State), Bamidele Agbede (Ekiti State), Jani Bello (Gombe State), Dr. Taiye Ilayasu (Kwara State), Dr. Bunmi Omoseyindemi (Lagos State).⁣
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Others are Yahaya Bello (Nasarawa State), Prof. Mohammed Yalwa (Niger State), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha (Rivers State) and Abubakar Dambo (Zamfara State). ⁣
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Wednesday’s appointments are by the powers vested in the Office of the President “by Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, Amended) and Section 6 of the Electoral Act (2022),” Ngelale noted. ⁣
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Tinubu said he expects the new appointees to “abide by the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct in the discharge of their duties, in accordance with his determination to facilitate the establishment of a new and sustainable standard of transparent, fair and conflict-free electoral conduct in Nigeria.” ⁣

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The Commission’s daily bulletin issued on Saturday in Abuja quoted Yakubu as saying that INEC had received over 120 applications from political associations seeking registration as political parties.

“Already, there are 46 registered political parties and recently a court of law ordered the commission to register one more association as political party.

“Obviously, by the time the commission processes outstanding applications, the number of political parties will possibly increase,” Yakubu said.

Similarly, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has assured the commitment of the association to support the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country.

According to a statement by an INEC Deputy Director, Aliyu Bello, President of NBA, Abubakar Mahmoud, made the pledge during a two-day retreat organised for newly appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Uyo.

Mahmoud restated the readiness of the Bar to monitor and observe elections, adding that the association would support INEC to enhance the credibility of the electoral process.

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The Director of Press, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), Bolaji Adebiyi, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

While 13 of the new appointees were on their first term, Hussaini Halilu Pai of the FCT was re-appointed.

The new appointees are: Prof. Godwill Obioma (Abia), James Lorliam Apam (Benue), Dr. Nwachukwu Orji (Ebonyi), Dr. Iloh Joseph Valentine Chuks (Enugu), Dr. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda (Plateau), Umar Ibrahim (Taraba) and Mr. Emeka Ononamadu Joseph (Imo).

Others are Obo O. Effanga (Cross River), Prof. Francis Chuckwemeka Ezeounu (Anambra), Dr. Briyai O. Frankland (Bayelsa), Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa), Agboke Mutiu Olaleke (Ogun) and Alhaji Ahmad Makama (Bauchi).

“These appointees have been confirmed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and therefore, the appointments are with immediate effect,” Adebiyi said.

The RECs also have a five-year renewable tenure, same as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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On March 23, Buhari sent 27 REC nominees nominees to the upper legislative chamber for confirmation in compliance with section 14(3)(a) of the third schedule to the 1999 constitution as amended.

Suleiman Nazif, chairman of the senate committee on INEC, while presenting his report, explained that the remaining 12 nominees were still undergoing screening.

Nazif said that the other 12 RECs would be brought forward for confirmation once the committee is through with its screening.

He said that all the 27 nominees were cleared by the security agencies.

Those confirmed include:
S/N Names States
1 Godswill Obioma Abia
2 Ahmed Makama Bauchi
3 James Apam Benue
4 Nwachukwu Orji Ebonyi
5 Iloh Chuks Enugu
6 Nentawe Yilwada Plateau
7 Umar Ibrahim Taraba
8 Emeka Joseph Imo
9 Obo Effanga Cross River
10 Francis Ezeonu Anambra
11 Briyai Frankland Bayelsa
12 Ibrahim Abdullahi Adamawa
13 Agboke Olaleke Ogun
14 Hussaini Pai FCT
15 Sadiq Musa Kaduna

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Sagay, a former Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Benin and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, urged the Senate to shelve any plans to invite him, saying he would be forced to take legal action if the upper legislative chamber did not back down.

The Senate had, last week, proposed to invite Sagay over the comments he made during an interview with a national newspaper in which he described senators as childish and irresponsible for refusing to screen 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners because President Muhammadu Buhari had failed to sack the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu.

The Senate described Sagay’s comments as condemnable and subsequently referred the matter to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges for further action.

However, in a letter titled ‘Re: Resolution summoning me to appear before the Senate’ and addressed to the Senate President, Sagay maintained that the Senate lacked the authority to summon him.

The senior advocate said he has the right to freedom of expression and any attempt by the Senate to summon him would be an infringement of his rights.

The letter read in part, “My attention has been drawn to the well publicised resolution of the Senate, summoning me to appear before it to justify my criticism of the illegal call on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the EFCC.

“My criticism was anchored on Section 171(1) of the Constitution, which has empowered the President to appoint any person to hold or act in the office of the head of any extra-ministerial department of the Federal Government.

“Although I have not been served with any summons from the Senate, I deem it fit to take issue with members of the Senate over the threatened violation of my fundamental right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

He said Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution only empowers the National Assembly to summon persons while conducting investigation into the affairs of the Federal Government with a view to promoting good governance and curbing corruption or while making laws.

“However, the power to conduct enquiries is not at large. Thus, by virtue of Section 88 (1) & (2) of the 1999 Constitution the National Assembly shall have power to direct or cause to be directed investigation into the conduct of any person, authority, ministry or agency of the Federal Government subject to the provisions of the constitution,” Sagay said.

The PACAC chairman cited three cases that had been settled in court as regards the power of the National Assembly to summon people.

He noted that Section 82 of the 1979 Constitution is in “pari materia with section 88 of the 1999 Constitution”.

While citing Mallam Nasir El-Rufai vs The House of Representatives, National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria & Ors. (2003) 46 WRN 70, Sagay noted that the Court of Appeal subjected Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution to a critical judicial interpretation.

Sagay recalled that Justice George Oguntade, who was at the time, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, read the lead judgment.

The judgment read in part, “The crucial question that follows is this: when the 1st defendant (House of Representatives) sent the letter of 20/3/2002 to the Plaintiff (el-Rufai) to appear before its Ethics and Privileges Committee, was it engaged in the making of a law within its legislative competence or to expose corruption and inefficiency in a public department?

“Clearly, the answer is in the negative. It is apparent that the 1st plaintiff was intent on taking further steps following its antecedent determination. That this was the intention of the 1st defendant, which is made clear by the opening paragraph of the letter which stated that the plaintiff had published defamatory matters concerning it.”

The senior advocate stated that members of the Senate, who were appalled by his interview in The PUNCH, could sue him for defamation but anything to the contrary would be in breach of the law.

Sagay said, “Applying the principle of law, enunciated in the above cited cases, I am fortified in my submission that the Senate lacks the constitutional power to summon me to justify my condemnation of the illegal actions of its members.

“The Senate cannot be accuser, prosecutor and judge in its own case. However, any aggrieved member of the Senate has the liberty to sue me for defamation in a competent court of jurisdiction.

“Consequently, I urge you to withdraw the resolution summoning me to appear before the Senate. If you fail to accede to my request, I will not hesitate to challenge the legal validity of the summons, once it is served on me.”

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The then Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, had sought legislative approval for the nominations.

The lawmakers, while speaking on the report by the Senate Committee on INEC at the plenary on Tuesday, pointed out that the Legislature should not approve more nominations by the Executive.

This was due to the failure by the Presidency to remove the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, after his nomination had been rejected by the senate.

The nominees are Prof. Godswill Obioma (Abia), Ibrahim Abdullahi (Adamawa), James Apam (Benue), Nwachukwu Orji (Ebonyi), Iloh Valentine (Enugu), Asmau Maikudi (Katsina), Mahmuda Isa (Kebbi), Prof. Samuel Egwu (Kogi), Prof. Mustapha Zubairu (Niger), Agboke Mutiu (Ogun), Abdul-Ganiyu Olayinka (Oyo) and Prof. Riskuwa Shehu (Sokoto).

Others are Ahmad Mahmud (Zamfara), Nentewa Yilwatda (Plateau), Umar Ibrahim (Taraba), Emeka Ononamadu (Imo), Obo Effanga (Cross River), Prof. Francis Ezeonu (Anambra) and Briyia Frankland (Bayelsa).

They also include Ahmad Makama (Bauchi), Mike Igini (Delta), Hussaini Pai (FCT), Sadiq Musa (Kaduna), Jibrin Zarewa (Kano), Rufus Akeju (Lagos), Sam Olumekun (Ondo) and Kasim Geidam (Yobe).

President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, who presided over the plenary, however, pleaded that the confirmation be suspended for two weeks, which was unanimously approved.

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The request was contained in ‎letter dated February 27 which was read by Bukola Saraki, senate president, in plenary on Thursday.

The letter was sent to the upper legislative chamber by Yemi Osinbajo who was at the time the Acting President.

Some of the RECs‎ were renominated by Buhari following the expiration of their tenure.

Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, had in September blamed the spate of inconclusive elections across the country on the absence of RECs in 20 states.

Ekweremadu had urged the senate to call on the President to nominate qualified persons to fill the vacant positions at INEC.

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An atmosphere of uncertainty has beclouded the elections, particularly in Tai Local Government Area where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it would conduct election in the remaining few wards, irrespective of a Federal High Court order that elections should be held in the entire area.

Over 30,000 security personnel comprising the police, army, navy and other para-military agencies have been deployed to the entire 23 local councils where the re-run elections are taking place, with eyewitnesses in Abonnema, Bonny, Buguma and other riverine communities attesting to the deployment of gunboats to these communities to police the waterways and enforce the restriction of movement order by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

Heavy security has been mounted around INEC offices across the State, even as the electoral body started the distribution of sensitive electoral materials yesterday to the Local Government Areas of the State.

Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aniedi Ikoiwak, told journalists in PortHarcourt Friday that irrespective of the huge deployment of security personnel across the State, if the key political actors do not adhere to electoral rules, the entire process might be compromised.

“Everybody should be bothered about security and inflammatory statement made by leaders of the state, because when you are talking about security, it is not only whether you have policemen there, but situations where statements are made to scare people away, creates security situation because people are now scared to do what they are supposed to do,” he said.

“I cannot say I have security concern in this area and I don’t have in this area. When we talk about security, it may not only mean having security men. It may mean the way we take the election. If we take it as a do-or-die affair, no matter the number of security men you bring, it will still breach security. I think our mindset towards the election should be one that reflects peace, mindset that reflect game not fight”.

Ikiowak explained that about 8,000 to 10,000 ad hoc staff would be deployed across the state for elections. He stressed that any ad hoc staff found to be a member of a political party or has sympathy for a political party, will be dropped to safeguard the integrity of the process.

A statement from the Government House press unit Friday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has warned that if INEC goes ahead to conduct election in a few polling units in Tai Local Council instead of the entire council, then it will become obvious that the electoral commission has a sinister plan to derail the democratic process in the state.

It will be recalled that Justice Liman of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had on Tuesday ordered INEC to ensure that the results of Tai Local Council emanate from the rerun elections in the area.

APC spokesperson, Chris Finebone, has warned that any attempt to derail the electoral process will further dent the image of Rivers State and grossly impact on her economic fortunes.

Finebone noted that it was regrettable that Rivers State has been associated with electoral violence, an image which he stressed is contrary to the true characteristic of the people known for their civility and high moral decorum.

“People will see us as violent people, which we are not, if anything goes wrong this time. Nigerians and the world will see us as a person who cannot exercise their franchise without violence. If we continue to have violent elections, it will affect the economy of the State, as most businesses will leave and government revenue will drop. Anything short of peaceful elections will have spiralling economic effect that we cannot afford at this time”.

On his part, David Iyofor, media aide to the former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, said the State cannot afford to undergo another electoral process that will be characterised by an orgy of violence.

Iyofor said because of the consequence of not getting it right would be enormous, adequate security arrangements have been put in place by the security agencies to ensure that the elections take place in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of those circumstances that culminated in the inconclusiveness of the March 19 elections.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has urged local political actors to play the game by the rule and eschew politics of intolerance, acrimony and do-or-die.

MOSOP President, Legborsi Pyagbara, also called on security agencies to play their security roles responsibly, professionally and without bias as partiality could cause violence and breach peace, law and order and destroy the credibility and success of the polls.

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INEC’s REC in Lagos, Akin Orebiyi, who dropped the hint in Lagos during the opening session of a two-day stakeholders’ review meeting on the role of media in the 2015 elections, organised by the UNDP – Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) Project II, said the commission could not fulfill some of its promises to the electorate but expressed hope of a better electoral process ahead of the 2019 elections.

According to him, production and distribution of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) could not be delivered to Nigerians as planned by the commission.

“We promised to do a number of things but we couldn’t deliver all, for instance, Only 60 per cent of PVCs were distributed in the whole of Ogun state, while 5.6 million eligible voters were able to redeem their PVCs in Lagos, out of about 5.8 million who registered, this means that around 200,000 eligible voters were disenfranchised,” he said.

However, the UNDP-DGD Project II Election Expert, Prof. Bolaji Eyinla, has suggested that the commission should retain some members of Jega advisory team for institutional memory and better planning of the 2019 elections.

Eyinla noted that Jega’s effective management of men and resources and his calmness in the face of opened provocation accounted for the success of 2015 elections.

“I am also aware that Jega was supported by a body of technical advisers, it is not out of place to suggest that some of these technical advisers are retained by the electoral management body for institutional memories and of course for designing electoral success in 2019, so some of the team members sould be kept.”

INEC spokesperson, Nick Dazang, was quoted to have said that Jega would be in office until the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has said it was restrained from imposing sanctions on broadcast stations which allegedly flaunted the code of conduct for broadcasting operations during the 2015 elections due to ongoing court cases.

Director in the office of the NBC’s Director General, Armstrong Idachaba, who spoke at the review meeting, said over 30 broadcast stations were sanctioned by the commission for their indiscretions, majorly on political broadcasts.

He explained that NBC could not act on certain cases due to ongoing litigations.

“When matters are in court, there is little or nothing a regulator can do, because it restrains the regulator from acting any further, since NBC is joined as a party in the court.

“Out of about 400 broadcast stations in Nigeria, just a few carried out content breaches under the cover of political advertising, we drew their attention to it and we ask them to respond. But some of these things take time, where there are allegations and counter allegations, we have to investigate,” he said.

Idachalla however denied that NBC hurriedly issued warning to certain broadcast stations upon the declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the president-elect, saying the commission meted out sanctions before and during the elections.

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PREMIUM TIMES, an online newspaper reports that a presidency source, who declined to be named for security reasons, said Friday night that presidency officials are distributing between $30,000 to $50, 000 to the parties and asking them to push aggressively for the postponement of the elections on Saturday.

It said that apart from the smaller parties, government officials are reaching out to the resident electoral commissioners, who will also hold a separate meeting with Jega on Saturday.

“A large chunk of the dollars have also been budgeted to bribe some of the RECs to vote for the shifting of the election,” our source said, claiming further that the smaller parties have been asked to push for at least six weeks extension.

INEC has fixed separate meetings with chairmen and secretaries of all registered political parties, and resident electoral commissioners for Saturday to decide whether to go ahead with the general elections scheduled for February 14 and 28.

A statement Friday by Kayode Idowu, the spokesperson for the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said after the meetings, “the Commission will address a press conference to brief the nation on its decision with regard to whether or not the general elections will hold as currently scheduled”.

Jega had on Thursday briefed the National Council of States on the preparedness of the Commission to conduct the 2015 general elections, in a presentation titled “Preparations for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report”.

The National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the nation’s services chiefs also briefed the Council on the current security situation in the North-East.

Jega reportedly told the Council that his commission was in a better position to conduct election at present compared to its state of preparedness for the 2011 election.

“Compared with the 2011 General Elections, for instance, our systems are definitely more robust. We believe that we are ready for the elections as planned,” Mr. Jega said.

Sources said that convening of the meeting even after the Council of State gave the green light for the poll to go ahead was a result of intense pressure from the Federal Government.

The Electoral Act 2010 as amended recognizes INEC as the only body with powers to shift polls, often due to security concerns.

The Act however, requires the commission to only shift the polls in specific areas where there is no sufficient security to conduct the poll, except if the nation is at war.

Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (amended) states that: “Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct the elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint another date for the holding of the postponed election provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”

Sixteen political parties and four presidential candidates have earlier in the week called for the postponement of the general elections, threatening a boycott should the elections hold as scheduled.

Among the parties who called for the postponement were United Democratic Party, UDP; the Citizen Peoples Party, CPP; the Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN; the Action Alliance, AA; the Peoples Democratic Congress, PDC; the Labour Party, LP; Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN; Alliance for Democracy, AD; the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP; and the Independent Democrat, ID.

The presidential candidates who want the election dates moved are Sam Ekeh of CPP, Anifowose Kelani of AA, and Ganiyu Galadima of ACPN.

However, 10 other parties on Thursday also addressed a press conference rejecting the call for postponement by the 16 other parties.

They include the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM; African Peoples Alliance, APA; KOWA Party; Mega Progressives Peoples Party, MPPP; Social Democratic Party, SDP; African Democratic Congress, ADC; Hope Democratic Party, HDP; Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; United Progressives Party, UPP; and Accord Party, AP.

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