EDEGBE ODEWENGIE writes that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was fired up by its surprising deregistration of some political parties.
Prelude to the 2015 General Elections, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega says the process of deregistering political parties was ongoing as more parties that fail to meet constitutional requirements will be axed.
So far, the commission has deregistered 31 political parties for failing to meet requirements as clearly stipulated in the 1999 constitution (as amended) and the electoral Act.
Early December, Jega said while the Commission awaits court decisions and judgement on lawsuits instituted by the deregistered parties, INEC, Jega insisted acted legally in its deregistration exercise.
He said, “The Constitution and the Electoral Act have given INEC the powers to register and deragister political parties. These are continuous processes and we are acting in full compliance with the responsibilities given to us as a commission by the Constitution and the Electoral Act.
“We have a taken a decision to deregister 28 political parties, we have made the announcement and as far as we are concerned, we have acted legally. Of course, many political parties especially those deregistered are not happy about the decision, we understand that. Some of them have gone to court. We are law-abiding. We will await whatever decisions and judgement are made.
“It is a continous process, as political parties meet the requirements or registration, we register them. As political parties are in breach of the requirements, and if the breach is such that they deserve deregisteration, we will deregister them.
?
Early Plans For 2015
Nigeria’s Election Management Body (EMB) this year, announced early strategies it plans to deploy for its conduct of the local government, governorship and presidential elections, prelude to 2015.
The commission announced plans to commence by the first quarter of 2013, constituency delimitation and the continuous voter registration process. INEC disclosed that it will conclude? printing of the planned 70.5 million permanent voters’ cards next year. The commission has this year began the production of the first tranche of 40 million permanent voters’ cards.
The permanent cards expected to last 10 years contains security features such as barcode, hologram, micro text, fingerprints, contactless/embedded chip with printed voter details. Because of high cost, there will be no photographs embedded in the chip, the commission disclosed.
Jega made the disclosures December when he defended the commission’s N32 billion budget 2013 budget before the Jerry Manwe-led House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters.
The commission had proposed N57,708,199,460.26 billion as its 2013 budget but got an approval from the Budget Office to spend N32 billion for the said year – a situation Jega said could dent INEC’s preparation for the 2015 general election.
In a new voter verification system, Jega disclosed that the commission will procuring card readers to access the permanent electronic voters’ cards. Jega said the commission has plans to test-run the cards in bye-elections likely before 2015.
The INEC chairman said the commission does not need additional Direct Data Capture Machines (DDCMs) as existing machines are adequate to carry out the continuous voter registration exercise.
Jega said, “On election day, when the holder brings the card, that card will be swiped on a hand-held card reader all the information that is contained on the card will pop up and you will have to put your fingerprint and the card reader will auntheticate whether you are the true owner and holder of that card. That is part of our accreditation system for 2015.
“For 2015, we are increasing the use of technology in the electioneering process. But on the other hand we are being very careful because the constitution prohibits electronic voting. The use of technology is on verification and authentication during accreditation. But it will add substantial credibility to the process.
“We are procuring some quantities of the card readers and the voters cards that are ready we will distribute as many as possible commencing from early next year. In some of the bye election that we are likely to do before 2015, we may physically use this and test-run them as pilots and we will keep on fine tuning the process until we get to 2015.”
For next year’s delimitation of electoral constituencies across Nigeria, INEC is set to spend N2,545,540,000 billion. A breakdown provides: Physical survey (N1,223,560,000), acquisition of hardware and software and digitised map (N389,280,000), training (N164,000,000), data acquisition (N481,250,000) and engagement with stakeholders (N286,450,000).
?