Festus Okoye, national commissioner, chairman information & voter education committee Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, spoke on the Commission’s readiness for upcoming elections in the country and why the recent deregistration of some political parties would not be reviewed. Excerpts:
What is the state of affairs in INEC with the easing of lockdown in some states?
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) only scaled down its operations in compliance with the directives of the government and health authorities but all workers engaged in essential services continued with their operations. National Commissioners and Directors continued to work from home and continued to meet through non-contact virtual means.
With the gradual easing of the lockdown, the Commission met on Thursday, May 7, 2020 to adopt specific resumption protocols and decide resumption date and the category of officers that will resume on a phased resumption schedule. The protocol also took into consideration the specific challenges in the various states and measures in place to contain the pandemic. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a huge organisation with its National Headquarters, offices in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory as well as offices in all the Local Government Areas and Area Councils throughout the federation. It has over 16,000 staff scattered all over the country primarily engaged in electoral operations and activities.
The Commission will not rush into opening its offices and operations without comprehensive decontamination and designing Commission specific protocols that align with the overall national framework for the gradual easing of the lockdown.
What about the by-elections that were postponed in some states; any plan on next line of action?
Before the scaling down of operations, the Commission postponed the Senatorial By-Elections in Bayelsa Central and Bayelsa West Senatorial Districts, Imo North and Plateau South Senatorial District. Presently, we are aware of vacancies in Cross River North Senatorial District, vacancy in the Nganzai State Assembly Constituency in Borno State and another State Assembly seat in Nasarawa State. The Senate has declared some of the seats vacant and we believe that as soon as things normalise the Senate and the State Assemblies will declare the remaining seats vacant.
The Commission will fix the date for these by-elections as soon as the situation in the states and the country normalises and as soon as the health authorities and security agencies certify that we could conduct the elections without compromising the health and security protocol in place.
There are fears among stakeholders that date fixed for the Ondo and Edo States’ governorship elections may not be feasible considering the prevailing situation in the country. What is the plan of the Commission?
The tenure of the Governor of Edo State will expire on November 11, 2020 while that of the Governor of Ondo State will expire on February 23, 2021. The Commission has fixed September 19, 2020 as the date for the conduct of election in Edo State and October 10, 2020 for the conduct of election in Ondo State. By Section 178(1)&(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999(as amended) and section 25(7)&(8) of the Electoral Act, 2010(as amended) it is constitutionally mandatory that the Edo Governorship election must be conducted not later than October 13, 2020 and that of Ondo State not later than January 25, 2021.
These are constitutional stipulations and dates cast in stone and the Commission is not vested with the constitutional right, power or authority to conduct the Edo Governorship election a day after October 13, 2020 and a day after January 25, 2021 for Ondo Governorship Election.
Therefore, the constitution makes it mandatory that the Edo governorship election shall be conducted not earlier than June 15, 2020 and not later than October 13, 2020. For Ondo, the constitution is emphatic that we cannot conduct the election earlier than September 27, 2020 and not later than January 25, 2021.
For Edo State, the Commission reserves the rights and has the discretion to adjust the timeline and schedule of activities within the constitutional window of June 15 and October 13, 2020 while for Ondo the Commission can adjust the timelines within the confines and ambit of September 27, 2020 and January 25, 2021.
The Commission is not constitutionally empowered to postpone an election whose constitutional timeline is cast in stone and is immovable. The Commission can only adjust within the window allowed by the Constitution. We are preparing for both elections and will officially issue the statutory notice for the Edo Governorship election on June 1, 2020 and that of Ondo on July 1, 2020.
Several of the deregistered political parties have complained that they were unjustly delisted, especially Kowa party. Would the commission look into these complaints or review the process?
The Commission deregistered political parties that had failed to meet the constitutional and statutory threshold for continued existence. The Commission is not contemplating or planning to review the list of deregistered parties. The political parties no longer have legal existence. We are a constitutional body and any individual or association with a grievance has the right to go to court to ventilate his or her grievances. As far as the Commission is concerned, there is no political party in Nigeria known as Kowa party.
