There are strong indications that unless the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) amends its Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections (2019), it might use the Electoral Act 2010 for the conduct of the 2023 general election.
This is as a result of President Muhammadu Buhari’s delay in assenting to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 recently transmitted to him by the National Assembly. The President is currently in Brussels, Belgium, where he is attending the 6th EU-AU Summit.According to the extant INEC’s regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections, “Election to the office of President and Vice President, as well as National Assembly shall hold on the third Saturday in February of any General election year.”Should INEC stick to the rule, the next presidential and National Assembly election would hold on Saturday, February 18, 2023.
Meanwhile, Section 28(1) and (4) of the Bill waiting for presidential assent provides “the Commission shall not later than 360 days before the conduct of an election publish a notice in each state of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory stating the date of the election. ”By this provision, the threshold the Commission requires to be able to use the Amended Electoral Act in the 2023 election would elapse in three days time is Tuesday, February 22.However, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, told The Guardian yesterday that the electoral umpire could recalibrate its timeframe if the Bill is signed in the next month.
Towards ensuring that the 2023 general election is conducted with an amended Electoral Act that would engender more transparency, improve the electoral process and boost the credibility of elections, the National Assembly had quickly re-worked the current Amendment Bill and transmitted it to him on January 31, 2022. With the President yet to assent to it at the time of filing this report, Okoye told The Guardian that INEC would rely on the existing legal framework for the 2023 poll if the president fails to sign the bill into law.His words: “Section 132(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979 (as amended) are the operative provisions relating to the conduct of presidential and governorship elections in Nigeria.
“Both sections provide that an election to the office of the President and Governor shall be held on a date not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of that office. “Furthermore, Sections 132 (1) and 178 (1) of the Constitution gives INEC the power to appoint a date for the holding of the elections within the confines and ambit of the period circumscribed by sections 123(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution.“Sections 132(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution are sacrosanct and cast in stone while February 18, 2023 appointed by the Commission for the holding of the Presidential election is movable within the compass and orbit of sections 132(2) and 178(2) of the Constitution.
Okoye added that Section 3(3) of the Bill provides for the release of election funds to the Commission at least 12 months before the election.According to him, the same time frame applies to applications by political associations intending to transmute to political parties.“If the Bill is not expeditiously attended to, the application, enforcement and compliance with the time frames and schedules in the bill become extremely problematic. The Commission can recalibrate its own timeframe if the Bill is signed in the next one month.
“The Commission is working on a Draft Timetable and Schedule of Activities based on the Bill. The Commission is hopeful that the interest of the nation will prevail and the Bill will become law. “However, the Commission will proceed with preparations for the conduct of the 2023 general election on the basis of the existing law,” he noted.Commenting on the issue, a lawyer and former Chief Executive Officer, National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, said there was no constitutional mandate that a new law must be signed 12 to 18 months to allow INEC conduct elections in 2023.