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INEC’s Many Abuses of Rule of Law By Mohammed Ado
I wish to seek your indulgence to use your medium to comment on some critical issues that seem to contiunuosly potray the name of our Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in bad light.
If the ruling of Justi ce Anwurui Chikere of the Federal High Court in Abuja of June 12, 2007 was anything to go by, Nigeria’s national electoral body, INEC under the myopic, lawless and bad leadership of Professor Maurice Iwu, should ideally be one of our country’s top most respecter of due process, justice, the rule of law, honouring contractual obligations and quality leadership.
Unfortunately, that is not the situation as at today, even almost one month after his god; Olusegun Obasanjo has been booted out of office constitutionally. Justice Chikere according to Nigerian newspaper reports early in June this year had struck out a preliminary objection raised by INEC in a case filed before it by an indigenous contractor, Bedding Holdings Limited.
Apart from INEC’s numerous abuses and breaches of the 2006 electoral act and the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, INEC has developed an in house flout approach to court injunctions, particularly as it affects the eligibility of candidates for the last April 14 and 21 general elections. Several state and federal high courts, appeal and Supreme Court judgments were not implemented by INEC. Most of the times, the electoral body gets away with its refusal to implement court rulings during the tyrannical rule of civilian dictator Olusegun Obasanjo.
It may be of interest to again demonstrate INEC’s contempt for the rule of law. A case in point is the refusal of the electoral body to honour legitimate contractual agreements it entered into with its service providers as demanded by law. This attitude of INEC was what informed the last Senate under the leadership of Senator Ken Nnamani to promptly respond to a series of complaints from INEC’s service providers and contactors for the April elections who petitioned the Senate on its refusal to honour contractual commitments they entered into with it. The complaints were mainly on INEC’s refusal to pay them their respective balances having delivered their part of the bargains of supplies and services in relation to the successful conduct of the April general elections.
INEC’s serious contempt for procedures, rule of law and honouring signed commitments. This refusal has led to some INEC’s contractors and suppliers dragging it to court in order for it to compel the electoral body to settle them their contractual balances. The recent situation of INEC appearing in court over non settlement of jobs done by contractors does not augur well for the body. The belief today among Nigerians about INEC is that it is undemocratic, lawless and run by Iwu like his personal property. Due process and procedures are thrown to the dogs. It should not be so. INEC deserves to be operated like a normal bureaucratic set up with strict adherence to norms and procedures. Even some INEC national Commissioners were recently quoted saying that they have been vindicated on their stand on the Andy Uba candidature and the Anambra governorship elections in line with the recent Supreme court decision and several other elections cases in the country.
It is public knowledge that the last national assembly had months before the elections approved the release of all monies it requested for the conduct of the elections. Then one begins to wonder why INEC is now a subject of litigation by contractors for its refusal to pay these contractors and suppliers for jobs done. The questions Nigerians are asking are who in INEC derives pleasure in dragging its name in the mud? What benefit do such people stand to gain by further making a government agency like INEC look lawless in the eyes of the public?
A very pathetic case is that of Bedding Holdings Limited, which produced the plastic ballot boxes it used during the elections. According to the reports, INEC had till today refused to pay the contractor a balance of N3billion for job already done, delivered and the items used in the controversial elections. I am of the view that INEC must do all it can to honour such commitments otherwise other contractors will in future not be to forthcoming in accepting its contracts.
The Yar’adua Presidency must do all within its powers to cleanse INEC of bad eggs who derive moral and material benefits from their actions which however cause the organization and the country bad publicity. This he must do with dispatch like he has started cleansing the government of all bad Obasanjo boys, projects, policies and programmes. I am confident that at the end of the day Justice Chikere, other Justices and Judges will deliver INEC’s contractors from the devilish and wicked hands of Iwu’s manipulations so that they can also honour their other contractual obligations. May God help them shun INEC’s temptations to buy their way out.
Mohammed Ado
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