There has been disagreement between the President and the National Assembly over the change in the order of subsequent General Elections timetable starting from 2019 after it was released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Commission had revealed that Presidential and National Assembly elections are expected to hold on February 16, 2019, while the Governorship and State legislative Elections will hold on March 2, 2019.
The House of Assembly then decided to re-arrange the timetable by stating that the National Assembly Election is to hold first, followed by Gubernatorial and State Assembly polls and the Presidential Election would be conducted last; which would birth a three-day Elections rather than the traditional two days.
The lawmakers amended the Act while considering the report of the House Committee on Electoral Matters which proposed amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
While the amendment was drama-free in the House, it met disagreement, and resistant in the Senate.
It was reported that 10 Senators of the ruling party; All Progressive Congress (APC), staged a walkout while the plenary was still in progress.
They described the amendment and process of passage as ‘illegal’, vowing that it would not stand with some claiming that it was targeted at the President, Muhammadu Buhari.
The Bill was later sent to the President for his assent but he rejected it stating, amongst other reasons, that the amendments infringe on the rights of INEC.
“The amendment to the sequence of elections in Section 25 of the principal act, may infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise, undertake and supervise elections provided in Section 15(A) of the third statue to the Constitution;
“The amendment to Section 138 of the principal act to delete two crucial grounds upon which an election may be challenged by candidates, unduly limits the rights of candidates in elections to a free and fair electoral review process;
“The amendment to Section 152 Subsection 325 of the Principal Act may raise Constitutional issues over the competence of the National Assembly to legislate over Local Government Elections.”
After Buhari’s rejection of the Bill, there have been unconfirmed reports of the Bill being overridden by the lawmakers.
“Section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution reads: “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required.”
In 2015 and since 2003, the presidential and National Assembly polls were held first on the same day, followed by Governorship and State Legislative polls on the second day of the General Elections.
Previous Elections Timetable
In 1999, National and State Legislature Elections were held on February 20, followed by the gubernatorial and Presidential on February 20.
The next Election in 2003 saw the Legislature Elections held in April 12, while Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections took place on April 19.
The 2007 Elections were also held in April with a slight difference in date. National Legislature and Presidential Elections were held April 21 while State Legislature and Governorship was on April 14.
In 2011, April 9 was scheduled for the National and State Legislature, and April 16 for Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections.
The last Elections in 2015 had an initial timetable of National Legislative and Presidential Elections for February 14 and State Legislature and Gubernatorial Elections for February 28 but were postponed due to security concerns of possible terrorist attacks.
It was rescheduled to hold March 28th for Presidential and National Assembly and April 11th Governorship and State Assembly.
Likely Scenarios
Whatever order the election is given seem to open fresh opportunities for manipulation and/or unfair influence.
If the National Assembly election is on the same day with the Presidential election then lawmakers may be elected purely based on the sentiment of who the people are voting in for President and his party rather than personal merit.
It may thus be arguable that if the National Assembly Elections are conducted separate from the Presidential Elections, the lawmakers would then be voted on merit and not party sentiment. A struggle the House may justifiably be pursuing.
The Gubernatorial Elections in 2015 saw the current ruling party claiming 20 States out of 29 States that were involved in the Elections. Not so much because individual candidates were so loved, but because there was the campaign of “APC sak” (APC all through). This was mostly true of the North.
While this explains why the House may want the elections on separate days, the calculation that if a certain President wins his party will most likely win the next elections as everyone does not want to be in opposition explains why the House may want the National Assembly election to come first.
This protection may be what is being extended to the States as the House proposes that State elections come before the Presidential elections. It is known political calculation that should a State Governor not help a President win, the Presidency may help him fail when his own election comes. However, this will not take care of the other side of the issue, being that if the Presidency allows a State Governor or a member of the Assembly lose, such State Governor may also help him fail.
What the Presidency argues is that the matter should be about who has the right to make the decision on which way to go.
