Five proposals lawmaker wants for Nigeria’s Electoral Act

Nigerian lawmakers have initiated another round of amendments to the Electoral Act, as the country continues to pursue a “perfect law governing elections in Nigeria.”

The Act underwent a comprehensive review in 2021 and was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The last alteration received commendations from Nigerians, particularly for recognizing the use of technology in electioneering. However, the outcome of the last election and the judiciary’s pronouncement on post-election disputes have left many disillusioned.

Last week, the House debated a bill seeking to alter the Electoral Act. The bill, sponsored by Francis Waive, is proposing five amendments to the existing law.

1. Bill to Hold General Elections on a Single Day

The bill seeks to amend section 28 of the principal act with the proposal that all elections – Presidential, Senate, House of Representatives, Governors, and State Assemblies are held on the same day.

“Subject to paragraph (a) of this section, and without prejudice to other sections of this act, elections into the office of the President, National Assembly, State Governors, and State House of Assembly shall be conducted on the same day,” the proposed clause reads.

The argument behind the proposed amendment is largely economic. According to the sponsor of the bill, holding the election on the same day would save costs.

Hamzat Lawal, the founder of Connected Development, told PREMIUM TIMES during a phone interview that if the proposal is passed into law, it would help to address the election fatigue that often characterizes general elections.

“I agree that we ought to do elections in one day. What we see is that after the presidential and National Assembly elections, a lot of people lose interest in that of governorship and state assemblies,” he said.

But the proposal was opposed by a legal practitioner Henry Eni-otu, who argued that having elections on the same day could affect post-election litigations.

Mr Eni-Otu said election petition tribunals would struggle to cope with the workload if all the elections were held on the same day. He said the Court of Appeal might be overwhelmed with cases if elections are held on the same day.

“I do not think we have the modalities for doing that now. It could cause anarchy. Manpower and the lack of resources to sustain manpower are the two main issues here,” he said.

2. Electronic Transmission of Results

The bill seeks to make the transmission of results mandatory by amending section 60(5) of the Act to include electronic transmission of results.

“The presiding officer shall transfer and or transmit the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot electronically,” the proposed clause reads.

This proposal aims to remove the discretionary power that the existing Act confers on INEC on the electronic transmission of results. Speaking on this provision, Mr Lawal said the lawmakers must go beyond transmission, but they must provide sanctions against presiding officers undermining the electioneering process.

“We must put sanctions on returning officers because, in every polling unit, results are counted, announced, and pasted. The people who sign the report should be sanctioned if the results change when it moves from the polling unit to collation centres,” Mr Lawal said.

3. Overhaul of Voters Register Every 10 Years

The bill also seeks to give INEC the power to produce a new voters’ register every ten years to remove dead people from the register.

The proposed amendment states that “without prejudice to the provisions of this section and subject to subsection (2), every ten years the Commission shall carry out a re-registration exercise of all eligible voters in preparation for the next general elections.”

Mr Lawal also opposed this particular provision, stating that periodic audits are sufficient to clean up the register.

“They cannot be overhauling the register every ten years. So they want to spend N10 billion every ten years on the register? We can always audit the register,” Mr Lawal said.

4. Sanction over Frivolous Petitions

The bill also proposes sanctions against politicians who institute “frivolous lawsuits.”

According to the proposal, Section 130 subsection (2) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by providing a new subsection (2) while the previous sub-section (2) becomes sub-section 3 as follows:

“(2) notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (1) above, any person who presents a frivolous petition to the tribunal shall be liable to pay a huge fine to the Respondent if the court determines the petition to be frivolous and a waste of time,” the proposal reads.

Messrs Eni-Otu and Lawal slightly disagreed on this proposal. Both agreed that frivolous petitions were an issue but disagreed on whether the proposed amendment was necessary.

Mr Eni-Otu argued that the proposal is undemocratic, adding that the lawmakers are attempting to breach the powers of the court to decide cases.

He stated that only the court can decide if a case is frivolous or not based on the merit of the case, citing several instances when the court placed sanctions on litigants and their lawyers.

“It is not a law that should be enacted in a democratic environment. That law is anti-democratic and should not be contemplated in any manner. The reason is this: it is for the court—what they are trying to do is control the discretionary powers of the court.

“We have seen instances where the court has fined people for frivolous petitions. It is not the duty of legislators to give them a guide on how they go about it. The doctrine of separation of power is very important. You want to make the people start second-guessing whether they pursue their rights or not. No democratic environment should allow that. It will discourage people from going to court because of the fear of the unknown. It is the court that can determine what is frivolous or not,” he said.

Mr Lawal on the other hand argued that the current situation requires drastic actions to curb the high number of frivolous lawsuits in the court.

“I agree that people who file frivolous petitions should be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others,” Mr Lawal said.

5. Invalidating Voting without Accreditation

Moreover, the bill proposes amending Section 47 of the Act to enforce mandatory accreditation. According to the suggested amendment, only accredited voters can participate.

“Where the process of accreditation specified in sub-section (2) above fails, such a voter is automatically disqualified from voting; that is to say, no accreditation, no voting,” Mr. Waive stated.

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This proposal faced scrutiny during the bill’s debate by House member Aliyu Madaki. The lawmaker argued that voters should not bear the consequences of system failures.

The proposed amendment bill has been forwarded to the House Committee on Electoral Matters. The committee is tasked with undertaking further legislative actions, including a public hearing.