Electoral Act Amendment Without Enforcement Is a Complete Waste of Time – Falana

Prominent Nigerian human rights attorney, Femi Falana, SAN, has issued a stark critique of Nigeria’s democratic reforms, saying that the continued procedure to amend the Electoral Act 2022 is basically futile if no longer accompanied via a real dedication to enforcement. Speaking on Arise Television, Falana contended that Nigeria’s number one electoral problem isn’t a loss of tough rules however the continual, systemic refusal of the political elegance to obey them. He pinpointed the rampant, consequence-free defection of politicians and the endemic tradition of electoral impunity as the actual threats to the country’s democratic balance, rendering new legislative workouts mere time-wasting actions and not using a corresponding enforcement mechanism.

Introduction: The Core Argument Against Symbolic Legislation

In any practical democracy, the integrity of the electoral procedure is sacrosanct. Laws are crafted no longer as aspirational paperwork however as binding frameworks to make sure equity, responsibility, and illustration. However, in Nigeria, a routine trend has emerged: the passage of revolutionary electoral rules adopted via a common and planned failure to put in force their provisions. Senior Advocate Femi Falana’s fresh remark cuts to the center of this paradox. He argues that the present center of attention on amending the Electoral Act, whilst ignoring the foundational want for enforcement, represents a vintage case of political theatre—a performative workout that addresses the letter of the legislation whilst its spirit is robotically violated. This article will dissect Falana’s place, discover the historic context of Nigeria’s electoral reforms, analyze the basis reasons of enforcement failure, and suggest a trail ahead that prioritizes implementation over consistent modification.

Key Points: Falana’s Central Thesis

Falana’s interview crystallizes a number of non-negotiable truths about Nigeria’s electoral ecosystem:

The Problem is Enforcement, Not Legislation

Nigeria already possesses a criminal structure, together with the Electoral Act 2022 and the Constitution, with stringent consequences for offenses like vote-buying, thuggery, and inducement. The lacuna isn’t within the statute books however within the will to use those rules similarly and conscientiously in opposition to tough offenders.

The Culture of Reckless Impunity

He describes an running surroundings the place political actors, specifically the ones in ruling events, function with “reckless impunity.” This tradition is nurtured via the historic non-arrest and non-prosecution of electoral offenders, growing an instantaneous causal hyperlink between impunity and the deterioration of democratic norms.

Defection because the Primary “Political Point”

Falana makes a profound commentary: the dominant political calculus in Nigeria is now not focused on ideology, coverage platforms, or high quality of illustration. Instead, it revolves totally round “the plan from defections.” Politicians transfer events for private or opportunistic causes with out outcome, betraying the voters that voted for them below a unique banner. This phenomenon, he argues, is essentially the most vital existential risk to party-based democracy.

The Ignored Wale Panel Recommendation

He references the 2008 Electoral Reform Committee (headed via Justice Mohammed Bello) and its key advice: the status quo of an unbiased Electoral Offences Commission with prosecutorial powers. The constant refusal of successive governments, together with those who campaigned on reform, to put in force this advice is, in his view, evidence of a loss of sincerity in tackling electoral crimes.

Background: A History of Reforms and Non-Compliance

To perceive Falana’s frustration, one should hint the lineage of Nigeria’s electoral legislation reforms and the constant hole between coverage and observe.

The Evolution of the Electoral Act

Post-1999 Nigeria has witnessed a number of iterations of the Electoral Act (2006, 2010, 2022), each and every ostensibly designed to plug loopholes, toughen transparency, and fortify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The 2022 Act, as an example, offered inventions like early balloting for sure classes, enhanced provisions for digital transmission of effects (despite the fact that no longer totally carried out), and stricter laws on marketing campaign monetary resources. Yet, those amendments exist in a vacuum if no longer enforced.

The Unimplemented Wale Panel (2008)

The 2008 committee, continuously referred to as the Wale Panel after its chairman, produced a complete document with far-reaching suggestions. Paramount amongst them used to be the advent of a specialised frame—an Electoral Offences Commission—devoted to investigating and prosecuting electoral violations. The rationale used to be that the common police and prosecutorial businesses are continuously compromised or overstretched. This advice, like many others, has been consigned to historical past books, symbolizing a countrywide aversion to making devoted, empowered establishments for electoral justice.

The Phenomenon of Political Defections

Defection (or “cross-carpeting”) isn’t new in Nigerian politics, however its scale and brazenness have higher. Politicians elected at the platform of Party A merely decamp to Party B, continuously to safe a price ticket, plan desire with the ruling social gathering, or keep away from disciplinary movements. The Constitution (Section 68) and the Electoral Act have provisions that are meant to cause the forfeiture of a seat upon defection below sure prerequisites. However, those provisions are hardly, if ever, enforced via the presiding officials of the National Assembly. This has normalized political opportunism and significantly weakened social gathering ideology and self-discipline.

Analysis: Why Enforcement Fails

Falana’s analysis issues to a deeper illness. Why does enforcement constantly fail in spite of transparent rules?

Political Will and Elite Complicity

The most vital barrier is the loss of political will from the very elegance that advantages from the established order. The “political elegance” comprises legislators, govt governors, and social gathering chieftains who’re continuously the principle beneficiaries of electoral malpractice—vote-buying, intimidation, and now, the liberty to defect with out penalty. Enforcing the legislation conscientiously would goal their very own strategies of profitable and protecting energy, growing an instantaneous war of pastime.

Institutional Weakness and Capture

Key establishments just like the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), or even INEC itself may also be matter to political interference. The appointment processes for heads of those our bodies continuously make certain loyalty to the appointing authority moderately than absolute independence. This renders them hesitant or not able to pursue high-profile electoral offenders, particularly the ones aligned with the federal government of the day.

Selective and Vindictive Enforcement

When enforcement does happen, it’s continuously selective, focused on opposition figures whilst shielding allies. This selective software destroys the credibility of all of the enforcement regime and reinforces the belief that the rules are equipment for persecution, no longer justice. This additional entrenches the tradition of impunity a few of the ruling elite.

The Resource and Capacity Gap

While much less elementary than the problem of will, there’s a authentic capability hole. Investigating complicated electoral offenses, particularly the ones involving monetary trails for vote-buying or large-scale thuggery, calls for specialised abilities, capital injection, and sources. The absence of a devoted Electoral Offences Commission, as advisable in 2008, exacerbates this downside.

Practical Advice: What Effective Enforcement Would Entail

Moving from critique to answer, a real dedication to enforcement will require concrete, multi-pronged movements:

Establish a Specialized Electoral Offences Commission

This is Falana’s maximum repeated prescription. The fee should be in reality unbiased, with safe asset allocation from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, and its chairperson and commissioners appointed thru a clear, multi-stakeholder procedure involving the judiciary, civil society, and the manager. Its mandate will have to duvet investigation and prosecution of all offenses below the Electoral Act and comparable statutes.

Empower and Insulate INEC

INEC’s independence should be absolute. This comprises securing its complete autonomy over budgetary allocations, appointments (particularly in state electoral commissions), and operational choices. INEC should be sponsored via the total power of the state to prosecute electoral offenders, together with having its personal directorate of prosecutions or a proper, seamless partnership with the proposed Electoral Offences Commission.

Enforce Defection Laws Without Fear or Favor

The growth of the National Assembly should be pressured to use Section 68 of the Constitution and related Electoral Act provisions. This implies that upon a transparent defection no longer lined via the constitutional exemptions (e.g., merger of events), the Speaker of the House and Senate President should claim the seats vacant. This unmarried act would dramatically modify the political calculus, making defection a high-cost undertaking and strengthening social gathering ideology.

Implement Campaign Finance Regulations

The present limits on marketing campaign spending and the necessities for disclosure should be enforced. INEC and the EFCC should collaborate to trace suspicious monetary flows all through election sessions. The failure to put into effect those laws creates an asymmetric enjoying capital injection the place best the monetarily rich or the ones with illicit price range can compete successfully.

Leverage Technology for Evidence and Transparency

Deploy capital injection no longer only for consequence transmission however for documenting electoral offenses. This may just come with safe, tamper-proof methods for reporting incidents (by means of apps, SMS), the use of frame cameras for safety brokers, and making sure the forensic audit of marketing campaign price range. Technology can create an immutable proof path this is more difficult to brush aside.

FAQ: Addressing Common Queries

Q1: Are Nigeria’s electoral rules in fact that susceptible?

A: No. By regional or even worldwide requirements, the Nigerian Electoral Act 2022 is thought of as complete and incorporates complicated provisions. The weak point lies no longer within the textual content however within the implementation hole. The rules on paper are continuously more potent than the observe at the flooring.

Q2: Is growing a brand new fee the one answer? Can’t present businesses just like the EFCC or police do the activity?

A: Existing businesses have jurisdictional conflicts, competing priorities, and are vulnerable to political keep watch over. A specialised fee, as advisable via the 2008 panel, is designed to have singular center of attention, experience, and insulation. While reform of present businesses is vital, a devoted frame is much more likely to expand the vital institutional reminiscence and prosecutorial braveness for electoral crimes.

Q3: What concerning the function of the judiciary? Can’t courts put into effect those rules?

A: The judiciary can best act on circumstances introduced ahead of it. If investigative and prosecutorial businesses fail to provide circumstances, the courts don’t have anything to adjudicate. Furthermore, judicial enforcement is reactive and sluggish. Proactive, pre-emptive enforcement via govt/administrative businesses is an important to discourage offenses ahead of they occur or escalate. A robust fee would carry circumstances to court docket, activating the judicial function.

This fall: Is political defection in point of fact a better risk than vote-buying?

A: They are symbiotic threats. Vote-buying corrupts the foundational act of balloting, whilst rampant, consequence-free defection destroys the responsibility mechanism between the elected and their social gathering/constituents. Defection incentivizes politicians to concentrate on private survival and transactional politics moderately than provider, making a gadget the place the perfect bidder or essentially the most tough faction wins, without reference to electoral guarantees. It undermines the very essence of consultant democracy.

Q5: Could worldwide power lend a hand put into effect those rules?

A: International companions (e.g., the EU, UN, bilateral donors) constantly suggest for credible elections. Their leverage lies in conditionalities for support, election commentary missions that publicly record disasters, and diplomatic engagement. While no longer an alternative choice to home will, sustained worldwide center of attention on *implementation* of present rules, no longer simply new amendments, can enlarge home civil society calls for for responsibility.

Conclusion: Beyond Amendments, Toward Accountability

Femi Falana’s statement that “Electoral Act modification with out enforcement [is] whole waste of time” isn’t a dismissal of criminal reform however a determined name for prioritization. Nigeria has, for many years, been caught in a cycle of passing rules it has no goal of obeying. This performative legality breeds cynicism, empowers dangerous actors, and hollows out democratic establishments. The actual combat isn’t within the National Assembly drafting new sections, however within the streets, police stations, courts, and parliamentary chambers the place rules should be implemented. The take a look at of any electoral reform isn’t its complexity however its enforcement. Until the political elegance is made to concern the results of violating electoral rules—in the course of the arrest of vote-buyers, the prosecution of thugs, the forfeiture of seats for illegitimate defectors—any new modification can be, as Falana states, a profound waste of nationwide time and a betrayal of the democratic promise. The trail to credible elections in Nigeria is paved no longer with extra phrases in a statute e-book, however with the unwavering, unbiased, and visual software of the rules that exist already.