Mike Igini is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State. In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections in the state and issues of “placeholders” listed by some political parties as vice presidential candidates, among others. ANAYO EZUGWU reports
What do you think is the problem with the placeholder principle introduced by politicians; is it in the 2022 Electoral Act or that the stakeholders are still operating with the 2010 Electoral Act in their heads?
As part of our continuing effort to give name and purpose to the ballot as the best way of expressing the will of the people, like all my colleagues across the country, we have been given the statutory power under part 1, section 2 of the 2022 Electoral Act that enjoins all of us to provide civic and voters education but more important to educate Nigerians on sound knowledge of democracy and democratic processes.
So, on the needless debate about place-holder, which has been going on, my first reaction is that as a people, rather than, perhaps, focus on weightier issues that would define the polity, we are engaged in an unnecessary debate over placeholder. The question of the requirement of a presidential candidate or a governorship candidate as the case maybe is a matter settled by the constitution. Section 41 of the Constitution provides that there shall be for the federation a vice president.
And section 42 went further to say that the ticket of a candidate for an election for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be valid unless he nominates another candidate from his party who shall be the vice president and shall occupy that office if he wins that election. On the Electoral Act, beyond the issue of their qualification that also must be met with that of the presidential candidate, nothing else is said about it.
And so, my senior colleague Festus Okoye was very correct when he made the point that all the candidates, who were required to provide names of their running mates had done so on the last date, which was on June 17 and they have done so constitutionally.
Having done so, if after you have submitted the name of your running mate to the commission, perhaps, you have a question about the choice you have made and you decide to label it by calling it a placeholder or whatever name, that is completely a different thing.
But what is clear is that all the parties have met the requirement of the constitution but calling it a placeholder, Festus Okoye, Femi Falana (SAN) and all other lawyers are right because if you look at the Elec electoral Act, you will not find the Noun placeholder.
What is important is that they have done the rightful thing. However, because we are not in autarky of practices across the world, what people do not realize is that in the United States of America, there is a practice of place holding system. That is why a placeholder is nothing but a situation where a person is appointed to occupy an office temporarily with the understanding that such a person would not occupy that office as a right.
I’m not aware that when the parties uploaded the names of their running mates, they wrote a letter to our commission that they uploaded the name as placeholders. No such letter was written.
That is why I said why this argument but perhaps the question people are now raising is that those who are placeholders are insisting on continuing is the fact that under the law, can a presidential candidate replace his running mate, the answer is yes because a running mate does not emerge based on the primary process.
It is at the discretion of the presidential candidate and the constitution is clear on that. The question now is can they make a change, the answer is yes and all they have to do is to go back to the constitution as commanded within the INEC framework. According to INEC, by the July 25, all issues about withdrawal would have to be concluded with. So, today I think the debate is unnecessary.
Can you through more light on the issue of Senator Godswill Akpabio and Senator Ahmad Lawan, who were not listed as senatorial candidates by INEC?
First and foremost, I need to give certain background to what is going on and I want to ask a question first. What is the rule of law in our representative democracy? Should we have a democracy without a rule of law? Is our society a primitive society? We must recognize the fact that without the rule of law, an electoral contest would be a crude deployment of force.
Now, the primary process is guided by law. The Constitution and the Electoral Act are what guide the commission because if you look at section 160 of the Constitution, it is very clear on that. The power of INEC and that all the executive bodies established in section 53 within result to INEC, it said that its powers to make a rule or regulate the whole procedure shall not be subject even to the most powerful office in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that is the Office of the President.
So, in preparation for the election, we all worked so hard to have the 2022 Electoral Act in place to guide the primary process and that there must be internal party democracy in order for our democracy to be sustainable. If we don’t have the rule of law, this democracy would not be viable.
Immediately after the act was signed into law, the commission gave guidelines for that purpose and I advised that people should study the Electoral Act very well. In fact, I said this is the time they should get lawyers to understand the Electoral Act, many people did not hide that advice.
With respect to Akwa Ibom, on October 16 last year, the All Progressives Congress (APC) conducted a successful state congress to elect its executives. But before that exercise, they came to the commission’s office to ask what they should do in order not to have problems with their election. We advised them and provided them with the INEC template of monitoring congresses either for electing excos or that of the nomination of candidates.
Are you saying that Senator Akpabio did not participate in the senatorial primary in Akwa Ibom State?
He was not part of the exercise because how can you talk about a re-run in an election that the train had left the station since May 27. This is the genesis of the crisis.
Some people are saying that you failed to disregard the ruling of the State High Court that nullified the ward and local government executives that elected Austin Ekanem as the party’s chairman?
I have said that it is the National Working Committee that conducts the primary elections. INEC has a platform for primary elections showing the calendar across the country. The governorship was on the 26th and that calendar is nationwide. The senatorial primary was on the 27th and that calendar is nationwide.
In respect of which group we were dealing with, the Court of Appeal on April 7, gave an order that the judgement of the Federal High Court that was delivered on the 17th of March should be stayed and that status quo maintained. At that time, the guy who procured a fraudulent judgement with altered results had not even been sworn in.
So, when the court gave the judgement on the 7th of April, on the 11th of April he was sworn-in. As a commission that respects rule of law and given the fact the Court of Appeal said maintain the status quo, which was the position of the party before the dispute; the Ekanem group had been the one in charge and all the documentation in relation to the primaries, they were the ones we were dealing with.
We didn’t get any documentation from any other group. Now, someone is talking about a state High Court; which State High Court? This matter was handled by a Federal High Court in Abuja, not a state High Court. There was no state High Court anywhere. To underscore what is going on; Nigerians should ask why is it that only one political party in Akwa Ibom State would continue to have this issue since 2019.
But the people are saying that there is a letter from INEC recognizing the chairman of APC in Akwa Ibom State and that it is only you that is not recognizing him?
Let me let Nigerians know that as advocates of the law, we would not violate the law because we are the ones telling people to compile with the law. The High Court gave a judgement on the basis of the forged document. Don’t forget that a professor is serving a three-year jail term on the same thing because this is how they have been rigging elections in Akwa Ibom.
Let me maintain that the good people of Akwa Ibom want to exercise their rights but some unconstitutional actors have reduced the scale of their choices.
(New Telegraph)
