It has been over 65 days since the National Assembly (NASS) says it communicated to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on vacant seats in the red chamber.
The commission is however yet to acknowledge receipt of official communications from the Senate on the vacant seats, let alone set a date for the bye elections in the three senatorial districts.
Instead, the Commission says it is now more focused on conducting a free, fair, and credible governorship election in Osun State, which is set to hold on Saturday, 16 July, 2022.
LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that INEC has no schedule for election activities for the vacant senatorial seats in Nasarawa West; Borno North and Zafmfara Central.
The electoral act stipulates that once a seat has been declared vacant, it is the duty of the electoral umpire, INEC, to organise an election within a stipulated period of time to enable the people to have a representative.
That has however been the bone of contention between the Senate and the electoral umpire, whether or not the seats have actually been declared vacant.
But constituents in the three states of Nigeria have been without representation for almost three months after the Senate publicly held a valedictory session for those that vacated the seats.
The Senate on April 13, 2022 held a valedictory session for Senators Abdullahi Adamu, (Nasarawa West); Abubakar Kyari (Borno North) and Mohammed, Hassan (Zamfara Central) who resigned their membership of the upper chamber due to their election as APC National Chairman, Deputy National Chairman (North) and Deputy Governor of Zamfara state respectively.
Both Abdullahi Adamu and Abubakar Kyari were elected as APC National Chairman and Deputy National Chairman (North) at the party’s convention held on March 26, 2022 in Abuja while Mohammed Hassan was appointed Deputy Governor of Zamfara state which created a vacancy in the Senate.
If INEC and the Senate do no resolve the impasse soon, the people of Nasarawa West, Borno North, and Zamfara Central senatorial districts may lose legislative representation for the next 11 months, the time remaining for the 9th Senate to wind down.
Meanwhile, the next general election is just over 7 months away and political parties have already nominated candidates to represent them in the February 2023 election.
INEC’s national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday noted that the Commission has over 23 bye-elections to conduct after the Osun election.
Okoye was however silent on the vacancy that occurred as a result of Adamu, Kyari, and Nasiha’s resignation.
“We have over 23 bye-elections to conduct as a result of vacancies in some senatorial districts and constituencies. We will take a decision about it after the Osun State governorship election.
“The vacancies were as a result of deaths, resignations, party challenges, and disagreement at state assemblies, the National Assembly as well as the Senate,” he said.
Okoye added that the challenge with some of the elections was insecurity, while in some other areas there were fewer security challenges.
Investigation by LEADERSHIP Sunday discovered that the National Assembly has indeed sent letters to INEC, notifying them of the vacant seats.
It was gathered that Adamu and Kyari’s letters were sent to INEC on the same day while the Nasiha letter was sent to the commission earlier.
LEADERSHIP Sunday sighted the letters which were sent to INEC.
In the communication between the National Assembly and INEC, the letter announcing the vacant seat in Zamfara Central was sent on 21 April, 2022 while the letter for Nasarawa West and Borno North vacant seats were sent to INEC on the same day; 28 April, 2022.
LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that the delay in announcing the dates for the election on the vacant senatorial contest by INEC maybe due to other consideration, bit is not based on the inability of the Senate to declare the three seats vacant
LEADERSHIP Sunday reports that Ahmad Babba Kaita was elected to the 8th Senate for Katsina North in 2018 to fill the vacuum in the senatorial zone following the demise of Senator Mustapha Bukar, less than a year to the 2019 general elections.
But Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have frowned at INEC’s delay to conduct the election on the vacant seats, suspecting foul play.
According to the CSOs, it is unfair for the commission to be quiet concerning the conduct of the bye election since the Senate has already declared the seats vacant.
The CSOs who spoke to LEADERSHIP Sunday are: Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) Transparency International (TI) and the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC).
Speaking through their leader, Awwal Musa Rafsanjani, the CSOs said it is unacceptable that some constituencies don’t have representatives.
“This constituency has the right to have representation at the National Assembly. I think it is important as a matter of urgency for INEC to step in and do the needful so that the constituents will have representation.
“INEC should not continue to surpass their representation because there are a lot of issues at the National Assembly and if there is nobody to speak for them, it would mean that the constituents have been shortchanged because anything that happens at the National Assembly is binding on them,” Rafsanjani said.
Speaking further, Rafsanjani said: “INEC needs to act quickly so that nobody accuses them of sabotage. INEC must not do things that are undemocratic.
The opposition People’s Democratic Party in Borno State has however said it is waiting for INEC to announce a date for the bye election for the Northern Borno Senatorial district seat, which was vacated by Sen. Abubakar Kyari, the deputy national chairman of the APC.
The chairman Borno State chapter of the PDP, Alhaji Zanna Gadama, said it is the duty of INEC to fix a bye-election for the position.
But he is worried that the Senate is yet to declare Senator Kyari’s seat vacant since he took the post of deputy national chairman, north of the APC.
He said when the Senate declares the position vacant and writes INEC, INEC would communicate parties to arrange for bye-election.
“So we are waiting for INEC to tell us what to do . The Senate President should inform INEC that the office of the senator is vacant so that bye-election would be organised.
“They would write our national headquarter which in turn would inform us to prepare for election,” Gadama said.
However, efforts to get reaction from the APC were fruitless as neither the state party chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori nor other party officials responded to calls put to them.
But the party’s legal adviser, Barr. Baba-Shehu Zanna, when contacted said it is only the party’s chairman and the secretary that can comment on that.
Meanwhile INEC has finally clarified the controversies over primaries in Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial Districts in the 2023 elections, saying the Commission stands by the monitored reports received from its state offices.
The nation’s electoral body also said the Commission is currently funtus officio in the two cases.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, were contesting for Yobe North and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial seats respectively.
However, Bashir Shariff Machina has been in a tussle with the incumbent President of the Senate, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan over the Yobe North Senatorial ticket.
While Akpabio is currently in tussle with former deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Udom Ekpoudom, for the Ikot Ekpene senatorial district ticket.
A statement signed yesterday in Abuja by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye said the allegations intended to impugn the integrity of the Commission have been made in respect of the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts.
The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to speculations circulating online on the outcome of some of the recent primaries conducted by political parties and related issues.
“In particular, allegations intended to impugn the integrity of the Commission have been made in respect of the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts.
“To set the record straight, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria mandates the Commission to monitor the organisation and operation of political parties, including their finances, conventions, congresses and party primaries. In line with its constitutional and legal obligations, the Commission deployed monitors to the various constituencies and received reports of such exercise.
“In relation to the primaries for the Akwa Ibom North West and Yobe North Senatorial Districts, the Commission stands by the monitoring reports received from our State offices.”
For this reason, Okoye said the Commission did not publish the personal particulars of any candidate for the two constituencies at variance with the State reports.
“Right now, the Commission is funtus officio in the two cases. Aggrieved parties are at liberty to approach the Federal High Court and seek redress as provided in section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and sections 29(5) and 84(14) of the Electoral Act, 2022.”
On the issuance of Certified True Copies (CTCs) of documents, he said the staff of the Commission has been working hard, including weekends, to meet the deluge of requests received.
As at Friday 8th July 2022, he said the Commission has processed 433 requests involving the certification of 1,662,776 pages of documents.
He said many of them are awaiting collection at the INEC Headquarters by some of the same applicants complaining of delay in issuance of the CTCs.
“Section 29 (4) of the Electoral Act provides that any person may apply to the Commission for a copy of nomination form, affidavit, and any other document submitted by a candidate at an election and the Commission shall, upon payment of a prescribed fee, issue such person with a certified copy of document within 14 days. Persons applying for CTC of documents should endeavor to act timely and within the ambit of the law.
“The Commission will continue to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, including the deepening of the deployment of technology to enhance the credibility of elections,” he added.
