Politics

N’Assembly to consider Electoral Bill reports today, restores e-transmission of election results

Published

3 years ago

July 15, 2021

The reports of the Committees on the Independent National Electoral Commission on the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill are expected to be considered today (Thursday) by both chambers of the National Assembly.

The reports were separately presented at the Senate and House of Representatives’ floors on Wednesday during plenary sessions.

There are however indications that the clause seeking to prevent INEC from transmitting election results through electronic means has been removed from the amendment bill.

A clause by clause vote on the recommendations will take place today.
Section 49 (1,2,3) of the bill provides that “voting at an election under this Bill shall be by open secret ballot. (2) Voting at an election and transmission of result under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Commission. (3) A voter on receiving a ballot paper shall mark it in the manner prescribed by the Commission”.
This is a middle of the road position in the midst of a heated debate on electronic transmission of results as proposed by INEC.
Other highlights of the bill are criminalising submission of name of an unqualified candidate to INEC by a political party; publication of date of election at least one year before by INEC; how a candidate can withdraw from election; fixing of campaign fund expenses for candidates; and punishment for a candidate who willfully flouts election law.
Also Section 28 (7) of the bill states that “a candidate for an election shall, at the time of submitting the prescribed form, furnish the Commission with an identifiable address in the State where he or she intends to contest the election at which address all documents and court processes from either the Commission or any other person shall be served on him or her”.
Subsection (8) states that “A political party which presents to the Commission the name of a candidate who does not meet the qualification stipulated in this section, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N10,000,000.00”
The document recommended 90-day notice to the INEC for any candidate wishing to withdraw from any election, while saying that notice of election shall be published one year to the date of election.

In Section 32, the report recommends that “a political party shall not be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted pursuant to section 29 of this Bill, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate, provided that in the case of such withdrawal or death of a candidate, the political party affected shall, within 14 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the Commission for the election concerned.”
The bill fixes a maximum of N5 billion as election expenses for a Presidential candidate and N1 billion maximum for governorship election, while the election expenses for the Senate and the House of Representatives were fixed at a maximum of N100 million and N70 million.
For state assembly election and chairmanship election, the maximum amount of expenses to be incurred by a candidate was fixed at N30 million each and N5 million for Councillorship election
It states further that in section 87 sub section 9 that “a candidate who knowingly acts in contravention of this section, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of one per cent of the amount permitted as the limit of campaign expenditure under this Bill or imprisonment for a term not more than 12 months or both”.
Subsection 10 states that “any individual who knowingly acts in contravention of subsection (9) is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of nine months or both.
Subsection 11 states that “an Accountant who falsifies, or conspires or aids a candidate to forge or falsify a document relating to his expenditure at an election or receipt or donation for the election or in any way aids and abets the contravention of the provisions of this section commits an offence and Limitation on election expenses is liable on conviction to a fine of N3 million or imprisonment for a term of three years or both.”

Meanwhile, Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the Senate has not introduced extraneous clauses into the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill as being insinuated.
Lawan spoke following the laying of the report on the Bill by the Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano South), at plenary.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, assured Nigerians that the bill would be passed by the House before its summer break.
Chairman of the House committee on Electoral Matters, Aisha Dukku, at the plenary prayed the House to receive the report on a bill for an act to repeal the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010, and enact the Electoral Act 2021, to regulate the conduct of federal, state and area councils in the Federal Capital Territory elections; and for related matters.

Key among the clauses allegedly surreptitiously introduced into the bill was the ban on electronic transmission of election results by INEC.
But Lawan lamented that following the publication of his phone number and that of the Speaker, Gbajabimila, on social media, he received over 900 short messages (SMS) on his phone in one day.

The Senate President insisted that those who had accused the Senate of inserting clauses into the bill either spoke out of ignorance or were simply mischievous and rabble-rousers.
Lawan said: “There are various accusations, insinuations that the leadership of the Senate or leadership of the National Assembly has tempered with the report of the committee on INEC of both chambers.
“Some of those accusing the leadership of the National Assembly are misinformed and innocent. Some are simply mischievous and rabble-rousers.
“This is the first time this report is laid here and this is the report of the committee. This is the decision of the committee on INEC and therefore whatever will be discussed or considered about the bill, will be on the basis of what has been presented to the Senate here.
“If anybody feels very strongly about anything, lobby the distinguished senators to canvass for your positions, rather than blackmail our leadership.
“Because my phone numbers and that of the Speaker were published and in one day, I received over 900 text messages saying we have manipulated this. We didn’t.
“We will do what is right. We have our procedures. And lobbying is part of democracy.”

Related Topics:Electoral Act Featured National Aseembly

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E-election results: Reps summon INEC, NCC, adjourn till Friday

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Politics

Obi: We’ve not agreed on merger with any political party

Published

20 hours ago

January 3, 2025

Trends Admin

Obi: We’ve not agreed on merger with any political party

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 general elections, Mr. Peter Obi has said there was currently no agreement between the party and any other opposition party for a merger.

The former Anambra State governor spoke against speculations that the LP had entered into a merger deal with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.
Obi, who addressed newsmen on the state of the nation in Abuja, yesterday, however, didn’t admit or deny the existence of merger talks, but he was emphatic that there was “no agreement yet.”

He appealed to all lovers of Nigeria irrespective of political affiliation to unite because it was only in unity that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, whom he said has “mismanaged” the nation’s resources can be defeated.

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Obi described Nigeria’s security situation as unfortunate. He expressed sadness that Nigerians were needlessly being sent to their early graves on account of banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping-for-ransom.

He also faulted the current administration’s claims of fighting corruption.

Obi argued that the level of corruption in Nigeria remained high just as the cost of governance which he said has led to an astronomical increase in public debt.

Obi stressed that the situation was worsened because government officials willfully mismanaged public funds in 2024 through incessant foreign travels.

Obi: We’ve not agreed on merger with any political party

Politics

How Tinubu outsmarted Buhari to become president – Ojudu

Published

3 days ago

January 1, 2025

Trends Admin

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ex-President Muhammadu Buhari

How Tinubu outsmarted Buhari to become president – Ojudu

Babafemi Ojudu, a former Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, has claimed that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari did not endorse the presidential aspirations of his former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, or his political ally, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on Edmund Obilo’s State Affairs podcast on Monday, Ojudu stated that Buhari withheld his support from Osinbajo, despite the latter’s qualifications, and also refrained from backing Tinubu.

According to him, Tinubu managed to secure the presidency by “outmaneuvering” Buhari in various ways.

Ojudu, who previously worked in Osinbajo’s office, expressed confidence in his former principal’s ability to lead, asserting that Osinbajo could have delivered a more effective administration than the current leadership.

His words: “I knew Osinbajo was going to lose the primary, I saw it coming.

“Because of the system we operated and still operating, I kept saying at our meeting that all of the efforts we are making like traveling around, convincing people, and addressing delegates is only 40 percent.

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“60 percent of it lies in Buhari’s hands unless and until Buhari mobilizes people around him, the governors, his aides, we are going nowhere.

“I used to refer to Buhari as a one-man majority and he never mobilized his team towards Osinbajo and I think Tinubu outsmarted him in so many different ways.”

Speaking further, he likened the failure to elect Professor Yemi Osinbajo during the last presidential election to missing a second chance at the leadership of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

“I supported Osinbajo to be president. I was convinced because having seen him up close,” Ojudu said.

“The way he worked, his philosophy, his breadth of knowledge and the kind of patriotic verve in him I just think that he was the best person at that time to govern Nigeria that I have seen up close to be on the part of danger.

“Osinbajo would have been good for this country. For me, it is like losing Awolowo for a second time because he was at Awolowo’s level in terms of capacity, ability, dedication and commitment.”

During the APC primary in the buildup to the 2023 elections, Bola Tinubu secured 1,271 votes to clinch the party’s presidential ticket, while former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi garnered 316 votes. Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo received 235 votes, finishing third, while Senate President Ahmed Lawan obtained 152 votes.

How Tinubu outsmarted Buhari to become president – Ojudu

(Vanguard)

Politics

Seyi Tinubu death threat: Court fixes Jan 6 on Olamide bail application

Published

3 days ago

December 31, 2024

Trends Admin

Olamide Thomas

Seyi Tinubu death threat: Court fixes Jan 6 on Olamide bail application

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, fixed Jan. 6, for ruling in a bail application filed by Olamide Thomas, who allegedly threatened Seyi Tinubu with death threat on social media.

Justice Emeka Nwite fixed the date after T.J. Aondo, who appeared for Thomas, and the lawyer to the prosecution, Victor Okoye, made their submissions for and against the bail application.

Upon resumed hearing, Okoye told the court that the matter was slated for the hearing of the bail application and that he had filed and served his counter affidavit on the applicant’s lawyer.

Moving the bail motion, Aondo said the application, dated Dec. 20, was served on same date.

He said it was brought pursuant to the 1999 Constitution and Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.

The lawyer said the application prayed the court for an order admitting Thomas to bail pending the hearing and determination of the charge before the court.

He urged the court to admit his client to bail on liberal terms, assuring that she would not jump bail.

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But Okoye, who said a counter affidavit was filed on Dec. 30, prayed the court to refuse Thomas bail application.

Okoye equally urged the court to discountenance the exhibits attached to the bail request.
He argued that the documents were extracted from the internet in contradiction with Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

He further argued that any newspaper publication sought to be rendered in court ought to be certified by the National Library.

“We submit that those printouts are not worth admitting as evidence,” he said.
Okoye also argued that Thomas claimed that she was suffering from an ailment without attaching any medical report.

He urged the court to discountenance the submission.

But Aondo interjected, arguing that Okoye cannot orally speak on Thomas ill-health, having failed to state this in their counter affifavit.

The senior lawyer also argued that the entire affidavit filed by the prosecution did not meet the requirements of Section 115 of the Evidence Act.

He cited Paragraph 17 of the affidavit which he said equally fell short of Section 115 of Evidence Act.
He said the prosecution argument cannot stop the court from exercising its discretionary power under Section 6(6) of the constitution to grant his client bail.

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He said the power of the court to admit the defendant to bail cannot even be premised on her production of medical report, citing Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution.
Also citing a Supreme Court decision on the admissibility of newspaper publications, Aondo argued that an affidavit presumed to be on oath is already certified.

He said the prosecution did not raised any issue on whether Thomas will not escape if granted bail.
Aondo, therefore, prayed the court to exercise its discretionary power in favour of Thomas.
Justice Nwite adjourned the matter until Jan. 6, 2025 for ruling.

The judge, who hinted that the case file would be remitted back to the chief judge after the ruling, said his duty as vacation judge would end on the date.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Thomas was, on Dec. 20, arraigned and remanded at Suleja Correctional Centre after she pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge preferred against her by the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police.

Thomas was arrested on allegations bordering on harassing and threatening Seyi Tinubu; the I-G, Kayode Egbetokun and the Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a viral social media post

In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/636/2024 dated and filed on Dec 18 by the police team of lawyers led by A.A. Egwu, Olamide was sued as sole defendant.

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NAN reports that in count one, Olamide was alleged to have, sometime in 2024, knowingly and intentionally transmitted communication in the form of video recording through computer system or network on her social media platforms wherein she made remarks in Yoruba Language.

In the video, she was alleged to have stated “that Mr Seyi Tinubu would die this year, and misfortune and calamity had befallen the Tinubu family, with intent to bully, threaten, harass the person of Mr Seyi Tinubu.”

The communication was said to have placed Seyi in fear of death, violence or bodily harm.
The offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (2) (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.

In count two, the defendant was alleged to have intentionally transmitted communication in the form of video recording wherein she made remarks in Yoruba Language to bully, threaten, harass the person of Mr Egbetokun.

The communication was said to have placed Egbetokun in fear of death, violence or bodily harm.
The offence is contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (2) (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024.

In count three, Olamide was accused of intentionally transmitting or causing the transmission of communication in the form of video recording wherein she made remarks in Yoruba Language, stating that the children of Adejobi would all die before his eyes.

She was quoted to have also said that “he (Adejobi) will bury all his children in a single day, with Intent to bully, threaten, harass the person of Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi.”

The communication was said to have placed Adejobi in fear of death of his loved ones.

The offence is said to be contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (2) (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act, 2024