The European Union has expressed concern over the autonomy of the national electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).
Sunday Tribune checks revealed that the lack of “independence of INEC formed part of the observations of the European Union Electoral Observation Mission (EU-EOM) for 2023 general election in Nigeria.
The EU-EOM, which monitored the pre-election and post-election processes in Nigeria from January 11 to April 11, 2023 at the invitation of the electoral umpire, formally unveiled its findings and recommendations last Tuesday, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
In the document released to newsmen by leader of the team, Barry Andrews and his team, tagged “Nigeria 2023 Final Report,” sighted by Sunday Tribune, the observer team noted that the recruitment process of senior personnel, particularly the commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners, constitute a serious encumbrance on the diligent operation of INEC.
Further checks revealed that the INEC chairman, his commissioners and the RECs are appointed by the sitting president, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
The EU-EOM which acknowledged that the recruitment process has an expressed provision that such personnel must not be seen to be partisan, it, however, maintained that “the selection process leaves the electoral institution vulnerable to being viewed as aligned with the government.”
The report recalled that erring RECs could not be reprimanded by the INEC Commissioners as they are “presidentially-appointed officers. This exposes further systemic weakness in the electoral institutional design that obstructs fostering of professionalism and trust.”
The report reads in part:” The constitution provides that all members of INEC are strictly non-partisan. At the same time, there is no legal requirement that their selection be undertaken according to merit and qualification to ensure the independence and efficiency of the institution.
“CSO examination of the selection process signalled that the selection processes of both INEC commissioners and RECs were neither transparent nor in line with the non-partisan requirement.
“The selection of some commissioners also raised concerns about their professional skills and background. The selection process leaves the electoral institution vulnerable to being viewed as aligned with the government.
“Following the federal-level elections, RECs were mandated by INEC to bar all staff found to be negligent from conducting the elections. However, only a few key electoral officials were held accountable, despite the scale of election day failings across the country, as observed by the EU EOM in particular in the South-East, South-South, Kano and Lagos.
“The RECs in Abia and Sokoto were suspended without clear public explanations and their role filled by administrative secretaries. INEC has the power to withdraw powers from the RECs, but cannot legally dismiss them as they too are presidentially-appointed officers.
“This exposes further systemic weakness in the electoral institutional design that obstructs fostering of professionalism and trust,” the report said.
