The requirements and principles for EHC plans from the Code of Practice

The countries under the study which are Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia have also joined other countries across the world in embracing democracy in the 1990s. This development made it necessary for the introduction of elections in these three countries. Each of these countries made attempt to set up electoral committees to design principles to follow in the process of elections and agencies were entrusted with the power to conduct elections. The main aim behind this process is to conduct free and faire elections. But this was done at different pace by each of these three countries.

Nigeria: The degree of soundness in the conduct of Elections

Skeptics rightly argues that quantity is not the same as quality, and one key

Characteristic of elections, as noted in democratic terrain, is freedom and fairness. To Nigerian case, most elections conducted from 1993 to the present are often a sham or affront to the democratic world. Examples to the view above are the elections conducted under the auspices of military rule of Babangida’s administration in 1993, the military enforced two-party system to Nigerian democratic outage. The elections were to be under the supervision and management of Nigeria Electoral Commission (NEC) with the permission to register only two parties. The said registered parties were the National Redemption Congress (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP). In contrary, the full political participation and freedom to form political parties and belongings were narrowed by the then autocratic regime.⁸⁵

85. Jide Ajani, Why we announced June 12 Presidential Election General Ibrahim Babangida, on June 08, 2013 at 6:39pm in periscope, Vanguard Saturday July, 5th, 2014, www.vanguard .ngr.com/2013/06/why-we-announce-june-12-presedential-election-general-ibrahim-babangida, reviewed 12/07/2014. P.41

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Not minding the process of which democratic involvement in terms of political parties were narrowed but the extent of soundness in the conduct of that election. The conduct of election was appropriately manage as a result of euphoria that signaled the commentaries from the observers to the outcome of elections as being freest and fairest election, so far , in the electoral history of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that the said election was conducted freely by the NEC and announced the winner without being biased, yet the military declared it null and void on the reason that opened to tribalism or not in sympathetic accord to the candidacy of the one remerged victorious. Therefore, he addressed Nigerians in the following words:

“Fellow Nigerians, I address you today with a deep sense of world history and particularly of the history of our great country. In the aftermath of the recently annulled presidential election, I feel, as I believe even yourself feel, a profound sense of disappointment at the outcome of our last efforts as laying the foundation of a viable democratic system of government in Nigeria. I therefore wish, on behalf of myself and members of the National Defense and Security Council and indeed of my entire administration, to feel with my fellow country men and women for the cancelation of the elections. It was a rather disappointing experience in the course of carrying through the last election of the transition to civil rule programme…⁸⁶

86. Jide Ajani, Why we announced June 12 Presidential Election General Ibrahim Babangida, on June 08, 2013 at 6:39pm in periscope, Vanguard Saturday July, 5th, 2014, www.vanguard .ngr.com/2013/06/why-we-announce-june-12-presedential-election-general-ibrahim-babangida, reviewed 12/07/2014 pp.41-42.

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This scenario had proved the country to be undemocratic, and has shown the extent of incumbency involvement in the outcome of election Nigeria.

In the fourth republic, the military under the regime of Abdulsallam Abubakar prepared a transitional programme to return the country to a sustainable democratic government, and to pave way for more democratic involvement. Unlike 1993 election, election was institutionalized under Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which was given priority to decide on election matters independently. The administration prepared room for multi-party system against two party system which increased the tempo of Nigeria political participation and party activities. As a result, many parties came to being, and contested in the 1999 general elections.⁸⁷

The result that led to the presidency of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 was seriously reported to have been flawed with many irregularities. The INEC which had supposedly to be acting independently now became a subject to the ruling party. This was as a result of corruption, money-bags, and lack of administrative competency and discipline in the electoral body.⁸⁸

However, in response to corruption and money-bag, Victor in his assertion said Obasanjo’s administration which failed to fight corruption in the society and defend the fraud, did contrarily in 2003 elections as he uplifted politics of ‘Ghana must go bags’ in his bid to win back the seat of the presidency. In 2003 elections, ‘Ghana must go bag’ politics as mention above came to it shock by the donation made to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at a fund raising party organized for the Obasanjo-Atiku reelection bid. For instance Aliko Dangote and Emeka Offor donated one billion naira, and some undisclosed companies were said to have

87. A.K Oladipupo Elections and Democratic legitimation in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, M.Sc. thesis submitted to the Department of Pol. Sc. U.I. 2011.p.61 88. Ibid

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contributed 400 million naira to appreciate the magnitude and influence of corruption in 2003 election process.⁸⁹

The above issue was in contrary to the section 221 of the 1999 constitution which stated that:

No association other than political party, shall canvass for vote for any candidate at any election or contribute to the fund of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at election.⁹⁰

To this end, the observers of Nigerian elections complained bitterly on how the supposed defender of the constitution buoyantly became the defaulter! No wonder why corruption is perpetuating in the society. Nigeria is a place where politicians can threaten lives, kill still and turn the constitution upside down to remain in power. It is no longer new that political parties and politicians in the society represent nothing other than bribery and corruption.

In the case of 2007 and 2011 elections, the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) named the nation’s Judiciary, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), all appeared as the hypocritical body responsible to electoral fraud and impunity in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. The NHRC drafted its report on the investigation of election petitions filed at the various election petition tribunals according to 6 geo-political zones, and wanted the three organizations in the electoral process culpable of promoting electoral offences which according to the commission a ‘mockery to democracy.’⁹¹

89. Victor D. Niegeria and Politics of Unreason: Political Assassinations, Decampments, Moneybags and Public Protest, accessed http://www.nigdetacongess .com/narticles/Nigeria, retrieved, 15-6-2004

90. I.S Ibaba, Elections and Crisis of Democratic Practice in Nigeria, Journal of Social and Policy Issues, Vol.4 No.1 p.67

91. A.K Oladipupo Elections and Democratic legitimation in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, M.Sc. thesis submitted to the Department of Pol. Sc. U.I. 2011.p.61

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Morealso, in a report which is titled “an Independent Review of Evidence of Gross Violations of the Rights to the Participate in Government to Public Service and Fair Trial through the Election Petition Process in Nigeria between 2007 and 2011”, showed evidence of judiciary sanctioned criminality in the electoral system. The report also detailed evidences of unlawful substitution of candidates by political parties and INEC, inflation of the numbers of ballot cast, forgery of election returns, and intimidation of voters as well as election officers at polling units.⁹²

In exemplification, it cited a 2007 case in Kano State where the tribunal complained that INEC wanted it “to tacitly endorsed abracadabra.” Anambra State case also is at hand during the same 2007 elections where in a ward only 2,089 voters registered but INEC declared 7,226. In this case, the tribunal found that INEC have been involved in the generating of the election of result for an election that did not hold. Such mockery did happened in Ekiti State, in the South Western part of the country, the Residential Electoral Commission announced as valid returns, result which she declared fake. More often than north, one way in which officials of the electoral body falsify elections is by manufacturing result long after voting had ended. The committee reckoned that this occurred in unit in which result had not been announced and no result forms completed or signed by party agents. For instance, in Katsina State, an Election Petition Tribunal found that voting took place, result was not collated and declared, yet the result was filed from the polling unit.⁹³

In another case, the report quoted the election in Adamawa State, where such electoral crimes also took place. It also noted that in more serious and accountable political crimes, INEC

92. A.K Oladipupo Elections and Democratic legitimation in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, M.Sc. thesis submitted to the Department of Pol. Sc. U.I. 2011.p.64 93. Ibid. pp.64-65

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should evince some remorse for the whole problems it has caused and the public money it wasted to have organized an election, it made inchoate even before it started.⁹⁴

By way of conclusion, such history and historiography of the study of election in Nigeria, had proved election processes in Nigeria down the drain of irregularities and could be said to have been a sham to democratic world. The consequences of this could be deleterious to the path of good governance and accountability, as far as, political leadership is concern.