We’ve many court cases over party candidates - Jega

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday said it had incurred many court cases after the 2015 general elections because of lack of internal democracy in political parties and last-minute substitution of candidates.

Prof Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman

According to the commission, these ugly developments portend threats to credible electoral processes.

The party structure in many West African countries, INEC said, were stronger than what is obtainable in Nigeria.

The commission however challenged political parties to avoid such flaws before the next general elections, scheduled for 2019.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, represented by a commissioner, Prof. Mohammed Kuna, expressed this observation in Abuja, at a stakeholders’ conference on 2015 elections, organised by Kuru, Jos-based National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies. It was with the theme, “Political parties and the 2015 elections: Lessons learnt and way forward.”

It will be recalled that INEC usually battles running court cases before and after general elections as a result of last-minute substitution of candidates.

Jega advised participants at the conference to proffer solutions on how to entrench internal democracy in political parties.

He said, “In the commission, we are worried about internal democracy in political parties. We have seen cases of substitution of candidates after the primaries. It is a serious problem for INEC. We had several cases in 2011 and the same thing happened in 2015.

“I think it is important that we look into it. If you look at political parties across West Africa, the party structure in many countries is better than what we have in Nigeria. We will share our experiences with other participants here in order to deepen democracy.”

Reacting to INEC’s position on the lack of internal democracy in political parties, the Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council, Dr. Tanko Yinusa, called for a total overhauling of the existing Electoral Act.

According to him, stakeholders must sit and agree on certain areas of the Electoral Act where improvements and changes are required.

The IPAC chairman said, “We have allowed political parties to be hijacked by individuals. When these individuals take over the structure of the party, they always decide who becomes what. We need to find a mechanism through which political parties will be public-owned institutions. With all due respect, we have improved over time and I believe we can get better.

“The only places where you can find true internal democracy are in the smaller political parties. These small parties are not owned by big men. The issue of substitution of candidates comes with Electoral Act. The Act gives a lot of rooms for a number of things.

“A case in study is Benue State, where people just jump into political parties and grab the tickets. INEC does not have the powers to effectively manage these things. We are calling for a total overhauling of the Electoral ýAct. Now, we can all sit down and look at areas of improvements.”

The lack of internal democracy and the need to ensure thorough reform of the electoral process, including consideration for independent candidacy and review of the age qualification for presidential aspirants, dominated discourse during a recent media roundtable organised by Transition Monitoring Group.

According to the TMG, such reviews and reforms would be necessary as part of measures to consolidate the gains of the 2015 election and pave the way for the general elections that would take place in 2019, even though political godfathers would strongly oppose it.

Speaking at the event, which centred on the Project Quick Count with the theme, “Setting a media agenda for electoral reforms”, the Chairman of Partners for Electoral Reforms, Dr. Ezenwa Nwagwu; Project Manager of TMG, Lazarus Apir, and TMG’s Training Manager, Paul James, were unanimous that the nation’s electoral laws require total reform.

In an interview with The PUNCH shortly after a keynote address entitled, “The strategic role of the media and CSOs in promoting electoral reforms”, Ezenwa said there should be mid-term elections for federal and state legislatures, apart from making provisions for independent candidacy to deepen the nation’s democratic gains.

He said, “In Scandinavian countries, they are reducing the age of voting. In Nigeria, the kind of posers and questions kids put foreward discomfit even you the adult and throws you off balance. With that progress we are making in terms of knowledge, we still disenfranchise a percentage of the population and see that they don’t participate in the democratic process.

“Nigeria is run by age, and the age barrier is a geroncratic fiat to close the democratic space against the young ones and youths. The more people participate, the more we retire godfathers. We must ensure that many people participate because retiring godfathers is a continuous process. It will start by de-emphasizing money politics.”

Ezenwa cited Ghana as a country which practices multi-party democracy “and yet uses independent candidates for elections.”

According to him, independent candidacy would be a good option that should be considered by Nigerians before the 2019 elections.

He said, “This thing is about continually expanding the democratic space. Democracy is nothing without participation. So, there are people who don’t want to join political parties for their reasons but you can’t take them out from participating. You can cite examples in every other place.

“In America, you don’t need to go too far. With about 400 political parties, 13 or 14 come on the ballot. Yet, there are still independent candidates. So, this argument about joining political parties to contest election does not define democracy in global terms which entails participation.”

We’ve many court cases over party candidates - Jega