Constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, has advised the Chairman of INEC to be firm, and ensure that logistics issues that led to the postponement of the National Assembly elections on April 2 are addressed. He spoke to ARMSFREE AJANAKU ONOMO.LOOKING at the challenges the INEC, what would you say are the possible ways out of the situationAll of us were grossly disappointed. In fact, I experienced a lot of shame, in addition to the disappointment, because of the presence of international observers, and because of the fact that small countries like Botswana, Lesotho, Ghana, and so on, conduct elections regularly, while we started conducting elections in this country since 1952. So, I felt ashamed that we could not conduct a simple National Assembly election.But on hindsight, and looking at all the errors that have emerged, I would say the misfortune of the postponement has turned out be a good fortune. Some party logos are missing on the ballot papers, and in other cases, two logos of one party appeared on the ballot papers, and in other places, the names of hundreds of people did not appear at their points of registration, and so many other things that have gone wrong.In a way, one can say that the misfortune that occurred has ended up being a good fortune, to enable INEC to correct all these errors, so that we can have credible, free and fair elections, instead of something that would have ended in a multiplicity of cases, if the very defective elections that were going to go on Saturday, April 2nd had gone ahead.The solution is to take care of these problems that have emerged. Apparently, ballot papers and the other election materials were sourced out of the country for printing. I dont know why. Again, I want to give INEC the benefit of the doubt, but I would have thought that we have enough facilities in the country to do it. Given that that is the cause, I would assume that by Wednesday, the 6th of April, all those missing electoral materials, particularly the result sheets, the so-called form EC8A, would all have arrived.If by Wednesday, all the materials are not in place, he should let us know again, and if need be, let us postpone again. He shouldnt allow us go under the sun, and go through the process of accreditation, and all the various stressful situations of casting a vote in this country, only to be told after sweating in the sun or being beaten by rain, that elections have been cancelled.Secondly, it is obvious that some of Jegas Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) are either incompetent or fraudulent. Because, I dont understand how the symbol of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the AC (Accord Party) appeared on one ballot paper, if it is not out of mischief to confuse voters, or why some symbols should not be there. All that, to me, shows incompetence or deliberate fraudulent intent. All those should be investigated.Although I know that Jega does not have the power to dismiss anybody, they can be transferred out of their stations, and left in limbo in Abuja, while more trustworthy people should be sent there. And this should happen to all persons whose integrity is in doubt; the issue of integrity is absolutely important and essential.Also, it is important that INEC should be firm on the issue of people voting, staying back to protect their votes, and using their mobile phones and other equipment to protect their votes. INEC must come out clearly, without any apology and qualification and say that the National Security Adviser and the Inspector-General of Police have no authority to issue the statements they were supposed to have issued. They should keep to their security responsibilities, and know that INEC is the only body authorized to state what manner and mode the elections would take. And there should be no further interference into INECs functions.Within the short time it has, in what specific ways should INEC address the lapses noticed in the area of logisticsMy belief is that the late arrival of materials was due to the fact that some of these materials got to the states late. This should not happen again. Secondly, on the issue of logistics, INEC should make sure that there are vehicles available to take these Youth Corps members to the various polling units, and drop them very early in the morning, so that by 8o clock when we, voters, are arriving, they would already have set up shop and would be waiting for us.The truth of the matter is that there would be no excuse this Saturday (yesterday) for saying the elections would not go on or for saying defective elections would go on. If either happens, it means the INEC Chairman has reached the end of the road as far as conducting elections are concerned. Nigeria and Nigerians, and all institutions, including the executive, the National Assembly have given the INEC chairman all the allowances in the world, in terms of money, amending the Constitution, amending the Electoral Act and so on. The level of indulgence that has been given to INEC in the last one year is unprecedented in the history of this country. I think it is the duty of the INEC in return to show us by their performance that they deserve all this indulgence. If anything goes wrong again on Saturday, I insist that that will be the end of the road for the INEC Chairman.On that score, if anything happens to truncate the process again, he should resignIf anything happens, that is a result of poor preparation, yes. For example, if it is a result of materials not arriving on time from abroad, that would be said to be as a result of poor preparations. But if it is a question of thugs going for ballot papers, you cannot blame Jega for that. Or if somebody is rigging or going to seize ballot papers, all those cannot be traced to inefficiency. That, of course, would be traced to the invidious and malevolent character of the Nigerian politician. In such a situation, the elections in those areas so affected should be cancelled and repeated. HOW would you assess the promulgation of an edict by Governor Godswill Akpabio that would allow him to detain citizens for 14 daysGovernor Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State is the most desperate politician in Nigeria today. He has no limit to what he can do to get a 2nd term in office. He is currently engaged in a determined, do-or-die effort to eliminate any credible competition for the governorship position of Akwa Ibom State by all means available. Hence, the present dangerous onslaught against the ACN Candidate, Akpanudoedehe, now incarcerated on trumped-up charges.The most terrifying aspect of the current development is Akpabios throwback to the era of military dictatorship by his enactment of an Akwa Ibom style Decree No. 2 reminiscent of the Buhari, Babangida, and Abacha military regimes.This law, which was passed by the pliant Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, allows Akpabio, a civilian governor operating under a constitutional government, to order the detention of anyone for 14 days in the 1st instance and to renew the Detention Order after 14 days, at his discretion.This Detention Decree was passed into Law on 31st March 2011, but has been used by a Magistrate Obot to detain Akpanudoedehe, the ACN governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom State, for an Offence allegedly committed on 21st March 2011, 10 days before the illegal law was passed.Apart from the fact that the Law was deliberately made for the incarceration of one man, in a desperate attempt to remove him from circulation, in order to enhance the chances of Akpabios second coming, it is illegal because it is not a law, but is legislation ad hominem, i.e., directed at a specific individual or a group, rather than the generality of the public and is therefore illegal, null and void.Even more gravely is the Laws flagrant violation of the Constitution. Section 35 of the Constitution guarantees all persons their right to personal liberty and no one may be deprived of such liberty save in specifically listed circumstances, most of which refer to validly made Court orders of committals or sentences.More relevantly, section 35(5) prohibits the detention of anyone by the police or any other agency of government for more than 24 hours in an urban area, or more than 48 hours in a rural area, where the Court is more than 40 kilometres away, unless there is a valid Court order to that effect.Even for this brief period of permissible detention (i.e., 24 hours or 48 hours as the case may be), only the police and some expressly empowered security agencies have the power to order and effect arrests. It is important to stress that under no circumstances is a governor empowered under our Constitution to order the arrest of anybody, much less his rival contender for political office.The Akwa Ibom Law passed on 31st March 2011 is grossly illegal, unconstitutional, null and void on three grounds; it violates section 35(5) of the Constitution by authorizing 14 days, renewable detention of Nigerians rather than 24 or 48 hours. Also, it empowers a governor, a politician, with a personal, private agenda, rather than the police or security agencies to order the arrest of Nigerian citizens.It was tailor-made to target a specific individual or a group, rather than the general population. It was enforced retroactively, by the arrest of Akpanudoedehe for a purported offence committed on 22nd March 2011, when the illegal law was passed on 31st March 2011.The Law is, therefore, in violation of section 36(8) of the Constitution, which states that, No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence heavier than the penalty in force at the time the offence was committed.This clearly reveals that a whole legislative process was embarked upon in order to target one man and members of his political family. By this monstrosity of a Decree 2 of 2011, Akpabio has joined the select group of infamous dictators like Sergeant Doe, Hastings Banda of Malawi, Mugabe, Gbagbo, Papa Doc of Haiti, the late Eyadema of Togo and a host of despots, who have turned their countries into horrific nightmares for their citizens and residents.It is unbelievable that this can be happening in 21st century Nigeria, with our President, whose credentials for acceptance at home and internationally is respect for Democracy, Human Rights and above all, the Rule of Law.This Akpabio Decree is an affront on the nation and an act of impunity of the highest order. I call on the President of the NBA and his executive to move fast to end this nightmare by getting a Court declaration, nullifying the Akwa Ibom Decree 2 of 2011.
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