Legal practitioner writes INEC, seeks cancellation of undemocratic congresses by APC, PDP

By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been called upon to cancel all undemocratic congresses so far conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) within the last month.

The call was made by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts in a letter to INEC in Abuja.

In a letter to INEC, Director of the Abuja School and legal scholar, Associate Prof Sam Amadi cautioned INEC against reneging on its constitutional duties enshrined in the extant laws governing the regulation of political parties’ primaries in Nigeria.

According to Amadi, “the apparent violation of some of the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 by the political parties compels the Commission to intervene to protect the core principles of electoral democracy as enshrined in the constitution and the new electoral law.

“It is important to stress the importance of the new electoral law in helping to establish democracy and accountable governance in Nigeria.

“It holds the key to reversing the political capture of electoral democracy in Nigeria by a few political stalwarts, who have turned party leadership into a weapon against the democratic freedoms of Nigerians and the consolidation of democracy”, he said.

The Director of the Abuja School further added that, “the general consensus reflected in the 2022 amendment of the electoral law is that it is time to effectively regulate management of party primary elections in order to secure strong foundations for democracy in Nigeria.”

Continuing, Dr Amadi said, “it is necessary for the Commission to issue clear guidelines on the proper interpretation of Section 84 to avoid a looming violation of the Electoral Act 2022 by most of the political parties. “The Commission should exercise its power as a regulatory agency to issue authoritative interpretation of the provisions of the new electoral law relevant to the conduct of primary.

“The authority of the Commission as a regulator agency to issue a determinative interpretation on its law- the Electoral Act 2022- has been well established by the classical decision of the US Supreme Court in Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council 467 U.S. 837 (1984) that the court will defer to the interpretation of the agency in respect of its laws as long as those interpretations are logical, reasonable, and rational”, he said.

Amadi similarly requested the Prof Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC to “issue an authoritative statement in the form of an interpretative guidelines on the conduct of primary elections for the 2023 general elections.

“That only delegates that were duly elected by members of the party in congress, conventions of meeting called in line with Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act 2022 are legible to vote candidates in any elective primary or convention of a party for the purpose of choosing candidates for elective offices. “Therefore, no statutory delegate, who is not so elected, is qualified to be a delegate to such elective primary or congress.

“Issue an authoritative statement that in determining the validity of any elective congress, the Commission will consider the report of its officials who monitored the congress. Where the report from INEC officials is that the congress was fraudulently conducted, the Commission will nullify such congress and will not allow any delegate that emerged from the nullified congress to participate in the elective congress or primary to choose candidates for elective offices,” Amadi maintained.