With the release of the election timetable, all stakeholders should choose their tasks and work diligently towards achieving them
Releasing the time-table for the 2019 general elections in the first week of this year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said it was a proactive move to engender certainty in the country’s electoral calendar and to enable all stakeholders to prepare adequately for elections.
The time-table, which is clearly aligned with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, has scheduled the presidential and National Assembly election for February 16, 2019, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly election holds on March 2, 2019.
However, the National Assembly seems poised to reverse that order of elections. Last week, the House of Representatives voted to amend Section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2010, which would see the National Assembly elections holding first.. Besides, elections into the State Houses of Assembly and governorship would be held on a separate day, while the presidential election would be conducted last.
The Senate is favourably disposed towards the amendment since it passed its version since last year. Meanwhile, going by the timetable, the commission has enlisted Nigeria among other developed democracies that have brought certainty to their election calendar management, making it easier for political parties, their candidates and other electoral stakeholders to be more strategic in their preparations.
It is indeed noteworthy that after some initial faltering steps, INEC under Yakubu would appear to have put its act together through its insistence on careful strategic planning and training of its staff. In April, 2017, the commission unveiled its 2017-2021 strategic plan in Abuja. It serves as a blueprint designed to help the commission to grow a pragmatic road map that will serve as a practical guide for its work in the next five years. Presenting the plan to Senate President Bukola Saraki last year, Yakubu had encapsulated its purpose: “The strategic plan comes with a programme of action so that, between now and 2019 and beyond, we know exactly what INEC is going to do on daily, monthly and quarterly basis, and we will be tracking its progress,” adding: “Gone are the days when elections were done on a prefixed basis. There have to be very clear parameters.”
Without a doubt, INEC has striven to achieve this purpose judging by its handling of the stand-alone elections held last year. For instance, the time-table for the governorship election that held in Anambra State on November 18 last year was released on February 23, 2017, eight clear months before the contest. The across-the-board assessment that the election was successful might have been due largely to the ability of all stakeholders, including INEC, security agencies, political parties and their candidates as well as the electorate, to adequately prepare for the contest. It is also noteworthy that the timetable for the gubernatorial elections scheduled for Ekiti and Osun States on July 14 and September 22 this year had been released as far back as October 5, 2017.
We expect that with INEC issuing the timelines for the 2019 presidential and other contests, 15 months ahead, all stakeholders would choose their tasks and work diligently towards achieving them even as we are not unmindful of the complications which the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 by the National Assembly might bring to the commission’s well-articulated plan. But it is reassuring that INEC is reportedly poised to seek a judicial intervention on the legislative proposal, which the commission feels is not only a usurpation of its constitutional power, but would also disrupt its well-laid out plans for the elections.
Whatever may be the case, we urge the legislature and the executive to hasten the process for the amendment to the electoral law so that INEC can continue to make its preparations without let or hindrance.
