• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Fact check: Does the President, APC have powers to ask INEC to reshuffle RECs? 

INEC-election
As the rescheduled national elections in Nigeria inch closer, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has continued to come under pressure, especially from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).
This came to the fore at the caucus meeting of the ruling party in Abuja on Monday when the electoral body came under fire for postponing the General Elections by one week.
While President had threatened that anyone engaged in ballot box snatching or other forms of electoral violence would do so “at the expense of his own life”, he also vowed to ensure that the Chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu and other officials of the electoral body would account for their incompetence after the polls.
He said: “INEC had all the time and resources, didn’t have to wait six hours to the elections to announce postponement.
“Definitely, INEC must explain to Nigerians what happened, the constitution and the law protects INEC but they must not take us for granted.
“If we had failed to provide all what INEC wanted, then we would have been held responsible
“So at least after the elections we will have to go into details to find out what happened”.
On his part, the APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, insisted that INEC must be prevailed upon to immediately reshuffle state Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) whom he alleged have been compromised.
He also accused the Commission of working with the main opposition party to the detriment of the governing party.
Some state chapters of APC have called for the immediate removal of RECs in their respective states, accusing them of bias and allegedly recruiting PDP members as INEC adhoc staff. They include: Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) among others.
Also, some of the RECs were reported to have been implicated in bribery scandals involving the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a swift reaction, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, accused the Presidency and the APC of arm-twisting and intimidating the electoral body to do its bidding.
But can RECs be reshuffled at the request of the Presidency or other stakeholders in the electoral process?
Checks on the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) revealed that while RECs are appointed by the President, subject to  confirmation by the Senate, they are sworn in and posted to states by the Commission without interference from other quarters.
To reflect its independence, the Commission has the powers to reshuffle its RECs when the need arises without recourse to external forces.
For instance, Section 15 (h) of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution empowers the Commission to “delegate any of its powers to any Resident Electoral Commissioner”.
In the same token, Section 6 (2) (a) (b) of the Electoral Act provides that RECs “shall be answerable to the Commission” and hold office for five years.
However, Section 6 (3) stipulates the procedure for removing a REC. According to the section, a REC can only be removed by the President, subject to two-third majority of the Senate.
“The Resident Electoral Commissioner appointed pursuant to the Constitution may only be removed by the President. acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct,” the law states.
What this implies is that 73 out of the 109 senators are needed to approve the removal of a REC. Pundits say this would be a tall order considering the frosty Executive-Legislature relationship and the division of the upper legislative chamber along Pro-Buhari and Pro-Saraki senators.

 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja