The Civil Liberties Organisation on Tuesday in Abuja said the Senate’s move to give the Independent National Electoral Commission the power to de-register parties in the new amendment to the 1999 Constitution negated democracy.
The Executive Director of the CLO, Steve Aluko, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria that the power to de-register parties should be with the electorate.
Aluko advised that wisdom dictated the need to deepen the practice of democracy and not to legislate against its continuity.
He added: “I, therefore, advice they must legislate based on the purpose to promote and deepen the practice of democracy.
“They must look beyond individuals.
“They must build institutions and they must legislate to defend institutions.
“They must also know where we are also coming from.
“Giving INEC the power to de-register, I think it is better for Nigerians to de-register whatever party they want to de-register by not voting for them.
“I think those are the tenets on which we should build on, otherwise we will end up endangering the democracy and making it another experience of the past that we must run away from.”
He urged the senate to abide by the 1999 Constitution on freedom of association, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Supreme Court’s judgment on the issue.
Aluko, a delegate at the National Conference, urged the implementation of the retired Justice Muhammadu Uwais Panel Report on Electoral Reforms, describing it as the best way forward for the country’s electoral process.
He said: “People didn’t believe what came out of Uwais Panel but I can tell you that is the least of what we expect in moving our democratic experience forward in this country.
“So many people are also engaging this process to see the best way to salvage the country.
“If politicians that wrecked this country are talking about salvaging it, it would be out of place for the progressives and people that have fought for this democracy and that believe in the pan-Nigerian project to shy away from this responsibility.
“So some of us have taken this responsibility as a national call and we are also giving our best, mindful of the fact that at the end of everything, we will give account to God and we will give account to the people of Nigeria.
“Moreover, the fears of the 1957 conference still abound.
“The question of the minority still abounds.
“The issue of absence of fair play, justice and equity still abound.
“So we see this as an opportunity to constructively engage the process constructively and let’s have this thing right.”
The new amendment sought to empower INEC to de-register any political party, which fails to win any seat in elections.
NAN reports that the senators are expected to vote on the new proposal on Wednesday.
The National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy, Rafiu Salau, on Tuesday also urged the National Assembly and INEC to consider de-registration of parties based on non performance only after four general elections.
Salau made the call in Abuja in an interview with NAN while reacting to a Senate committee’s proposal on de-registration of parties by INEC.
He said de-registration of political parties should not be based on failure to win at least a council chairmanship seat at one general election.
According to him, gaining people’s support in politics may take some time so a party’s failure to win seat at a general election does not mean the party cannot do better in the future.
Salau said: “Political parties are formed on ideology, which requires lot of sensitisation for the members of the public to subscribe and support a party.
“It might take two to three general elections before a party will be able to gain popularity in an area.
“De-registration of parties should be after four general elections.”
Salau added that availability of other parties apart from those with electoral victories was a means of strengthening internal democracy in all the parties.
The AD scribe said any disgruntled member of a party should be allowed to enjoy the liberty to join another party with better ideology.
Salau, however, urged INEC to ensure that two or more political parties are not allowed to present same ideology to the electorate.
He advised that INEC should consider going through parties manifestoes and suggested a merger of parties with similar manifestoes.
On the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, the AD scribe said the party would conduct its primary election in the state on April 10.
He also advised the people of the state to be law abiding and shun violence during the election.
The Inter Party Advisory Council and the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties have also kicked against Senate’s proposal to empower INEC to de-register political parties in the country.
The two political groups made this known on Tuesday in separate interviews with NAN in Abuja.
The IPAC National Chairman, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, said: “Any attempt to empower INEC to de-register political parties will be a drawback to all the achievements of democracy in Nigeria.”
Tanko said that the Supreme Court judgment was that de-registration of the parties would infringe on the fundamental right of Nigerians.
He said: “The Supreme Court held in a case between Musa vs INEC that de-registration will infringe on the fundamental rights of Nigerians as enshrined by the United Nations charter on freedom of association.
“We condemn this move by the National Assembly.
“The lawmakers should rather find ways of empowering political parties to perform better.”
Tanko also decried the situation where only one political party was being enriched from the treasury.
He said: “We are advising that the lawmakers should look inward and stop the debate on de-registration of political parties.”
Also speaking, the CNPP National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said the move was “unconstitutional and undemocratic”.
Okechukwu said: “We stand on the provision of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution, the African Charter on Human Rights on freedom of association and the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court on de-registration of political parties.”
He said all the registered political parties should be allowed to function within the political space.
“What we clamour for is free and fair elections,” he said.
Okechukwu said that if there was free and fair elections, some of the parties that could not get even chairman of a council will be in a position to do so.
“The issue is not for INEC to be empowered to de-register political parties but to conduct free and fair elections,” Okechukwu said.
Trending
- 50 CSOs decry plans to discredit EFCC, ICPC, others
- BAL 2024: Devine Eke targets success with Rivers Hoopers
- ‘Lanky’ kid from poor background picked from Nigerian street gets US school scholarship + Photos
- Rivers crisis: I have reconciled with Wike — Abe
- Ex-UK Prime Minister stopped from voting by law he introduced
- Former governor dumps PDP, joins APC
- Minimum Wage: We’re working on what we can pay — Governors
- New Minimum Wage: How we arrived at N615,000 — Labour