…says electoral umpire must remain neutral
By Mike Adeyemi
A Benin-based legal luminary, Barr. David Edobor Maduku has affirmed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not yet fully independent, citing structural, legal, and operational constraints.
The Senior lawyer stated this while answering questions from our reporter penultimate Wednesday via telephone call in Lagos.
Maduku’s concern follows ongoing controversies and legal battles surrounding the deregistration of political parties and internal crises within smaller parties in Nigeria.
According to him, ‘with all indexes on ground, INEC seems to be politically captured and acts with fear of the powers that be, rather than enforcing the Electoral Act strictly against powerful politicians.
He said INEC must not engage in any action that suggests bias, maintaining that it must remain impartial, particularly in intra-party disputes, alledging the electoral umpire, of conspiring to turn Nigeria into a one-party state by aiding the weakening of opposition parties.
“A society that do not have a respecta for the rule of law, their life will be nasty, brutal and short. And in Nigeria on daily basis, we are propagating towards that. If we say we have rule of law in our society, then is a slap of highest administrative and executive rascality for INEC as a government body to disobeyed court order.
” In every democracy, the integrity of elections rests squarely on the shoulders of its electoral umpire. To safeguard democracy, the nation must always be led in this sphere by a man or woman whose character commands trust, whose judgment inspires confidence, and whose conduct restores faith in the sanctity of the ballot, ” the ex Lion Bar scribe said.
Maduku based his warning on the conviction that Democracy will not thrive in a situation where INEC’s actions and decisions would not only negate our laws but also do violence to them.
He speaks further; “Disobedient of court order anywhere is application to anarchy, otherwise we wouldn’t have the court. When I heard the umpire’s delisting political parties, I became very sad because I asked, why do we have the rule of law in the first place. If we negate the rule of law in Nigeria, then we are heading for doom.
“Court orders are meant to be obeyed, not disrespected. So INEC as we speak is guilty of contempt. It is unfortunate that we have a government and it’s agencies disrespect court orders. It is not something to encouraged at all. You hardly hear or see incidences like these in saner climes.
“It is high time we look at the law that setup the INEC itself. If INEC is truly independent in its sense of the word, despite it has metamorphosed varry stages over the years. Before it was known as NEC, at a time it was called FEDECO and now INEC. By its name INEC shouldn’t allow government interference. INEC as a regulatory body must remain neutral and uphold the rule of law particularly in matters involving internal party disputes,” Maduku stressed.
The Senior lawyer further added that INEC’s refusal to obey the existing court order on derecognizing some political parties was a fragrance insubordination to the law of the land, saying that singular conduct perhaps cast aspersion on the credibility of our elections and subject it to questioning.
“INEC shouldn’t have disregard court order. I think that is regrettable that there was an existing court order and INEC go ahead and disregarded it, now make its pronouncement vis-a-vis certain political parties in the country. In any case,how many parties do we really have that for whatever reason deregistered or not recognized.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should point out where the party has erred. INEC has its legal department and the political parties have their own legal representation. They know where to meet if there is any issue. With this conduct by our electoral umpire, the credibility of our election is subject to questioning. We have been mispracticing all forms of governmental system since 1960 that we gained independence.
“INEC should rather be ashamed of it self and not be talking the way their talking now. They should look at how to strengthen our institutions and it should be up and doing, “the learned sage advised.
Maduku’s position may not be unconnected with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC’s) decision to remove the leadership of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), from the commission’s portal.
You will recall that the decision of INEC, which has sparked wide controversy, led to the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC, leading a mass protest to the INEC’s headquarters and calling for the resignation of the Commission’s chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, SAN.
INEC had said it based its decision on the ruling of a Court of Appeal, which ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.