ASABA — CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Abel Guobadia said in Asaba yesterday that the Commission was working on a draft Electoral Law that would effect the required constitutional and legal reforms in order to re-position the body to win back the confidence of the electorate through efficient and transparent electoral process.
The new Electoral Law, when passed, according to him would also entail amendments of certain sections of the operating 1999 Constitution towards making the Commission an “autonomous and impartial body” as well as setting a ceiling on how much should be spent during political campaigns.
Guobadia stated this in a keynote address which was presented on his behalf at a seminar/workshop on the electoral process organized by the Delta State INEC which opened in Asaba yesterday.
On his part, the former chairman of FEDECO, Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey agreed that there was need for constitutional amendments in that direction but in doing so, he warned that Section 72 of the Electoral Act of Nigeria 1982 should not be tampered with at all, saying that “there is no way in any event where this Section can be removed from the Electoral Act because if it is removed then, we are not working towards democracy.”
Said the INEC boss “the National and states’ workshops so far held have highlighted and recommended many areas of constitutional and legal reforms embracing, among others, the reconstitution of the Constitution to make it an autonomous and impartial body and an electoral process which limits the corrosive influence of money in political campaigns. A draft Electoral Law which takes account of the recommendations is being finalized by the Commission and will shortly be forwarded to government for use as it sees fit. Some of the recommendations”, he explained, “will entail amendments of the certain section of the 1999 Constitution”, he stated.
He however added that “while there is the need to make these amendments, the consolidation of electoral democracy and improvement of electoral process in Nigeria, in my view, require much more than the autonomy, independence, impartiality, technical competence of the Commission and the setting of limits on political campaign finance. Rather, he remarked that “proper conduct is essential for the deepening and strengthening of electoral democracy”, noting that “elections in Nigeria have since independence been increasingly contentious and confrontational.”
