ELECTORAL RECALL: A PROCESS FOR KEEPING LAWMAKERS ACCOUNTABLE

Sadly, it has become a norm in Nigeria, for elected persons to ride on the trust and support of the electorate to meet their dreams of serving the public in States’ Houses of Assembly, and the National Assembly (which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives) as lawmakers. Only for them to forget the campaign promises made, and act in manners almost akin to a godlike trait, which seemingly says to the public they cannot be checkmated or held accountable for their actions and inactions until the next electoral year. Lawmakers during the electoral year deploy tactics such as “stomach infrastructure” and false apologies, all geared towards soothing the public. Unfortunately, Nigerians by nature have a large heart and would forgive and re-elect the lawmaker, only for the lawmaker to repeat the same cycle again.

Some activists have trodden the path of demanding accountability from those who occupy public offices, such as that of the lawmakers, albeit with a less efficient approach, by organizing rallies and protests, geared towards forcefully compelling the target of the protest or rallies to agree to their demands. This approach is a less effective tactic to deploy, and at times places the conveyers or organizers of those rallies in a place where they would contravene the extant laws of the society. Instructive to state, protests or rallies initiated on emotional sentiments have the potentiality to degenerate into violent scenes, which does the country no good. Libya, Iraq, Syria, Sudan just to name a few countries, are living reference points to show that protests or revolutions without proper structure or planning yield nothing, except destruction.

I hereby recommend the resurrection and implementation of the recall process as provided for by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

A recall process occurs when voters or electorates exercise their God-given unalienable right to recall a serving lawmaker before the end of his or her tenure, in the event that more than half of the registered voters of the lawmaker’s constituency lose their confidence in him or her. 

It is pertinent to note that the recall process is only applicable to lawmakers and councilors in an Area Council of the FCT as enshrined in sections 69, 110 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and section 116 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to the express exclusion of other arms of government. While the recall process does not apply to other arms of government except lawmakers, it remains an effective tool nevertheless, as lawmakers maintain oversight roles over the conduct of other arms of the government. Therefore, checkmating the lawmaker invariably checkmates the other arms of government.

A recall process is conducted in line with sections 69, 110 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Section 116 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) by the submission of a petition addressed and presented to the Chairman of INEC by the electorates of the lawmaker’s constituency, stating that they have lost confidence in the lawmaker representing their constituency. It is instructive to note that “loss of confidence” is not defined in the constitution, therefore the literal meaning of “loss of confidence” shall be applied. The Black’s Law Dictionary, Ninth Edition, at page 339, defined “confidence” as, “assured expectation; firm trust; faith”.

The petition shall be signed by at least 50% + 1 registered voter in the lawmaker’s constituency. For example, if there are 10,000 registered voters in the lawmaker’s constituency, at least 5,001 registered voters must sign the petition.

INEC shall then verify the authenticity of the signatures of the registered voters who signed the petition. Upon confirmation of the signatures authenticity, INEC shall conduct a referendum within 90 days of receiving the petition, which shall then result in the recall of the lawmaker by INEC if a simple majority of the registered voters in the lawmaker’s constituency vote “Yes” to recall the lawmaker, during the referendum. Upon the successful recall of the lawmaker, INEC shall conduct a bye-election, to enable the constituents to elect a better representative.

For the purpose of clarity, I shall reproduce the provisions of sections 69, 110 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and section 116 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which are the same:

A member of the Senate or of the House Representatives or State House of Assembly or councilors in an Area Council of the F.C.T. may be recalled as such a member if

(a) there is presented to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission a petition in that behalf signed by more than one-half of the persons registered to vote in that member's constituency alleging their loss of confidence in that member and which signatures are duly verified by the Independent National Electoral Commission; and

(b) the petition is thereafter approved, in a referendum conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission within ninety days of the date of receipt of the petition, by a simple majority of the votes of the persons registered to vote in that member's constituency.

I can understand if those willing to tow the path of a recall process, may feel that it is impossible to learn the exact number of registered voters in a given constituency. Your fear is wrongly placed, as section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 guarantees the right of any person to get access to or request information, without being mandated to prove any specific interest in the information being applied for, and empowers the person requesting for the information right to start proceedings in Court to compel any public institution to comply with the provisions of the Act. It is pertinent to reiterate that this application under section 1, does not fall under the exceptions envisaged in sections 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 19 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.

Therefore, all that the people leading the recall process need do is to apply to INEC for the certified true copy of the list of registered voters in that constituency. Upon receipt of the certified true copy of the list of registered voters, the advocates of the recall process can then begin the process of collating the required number of signatures.

In a comparative analysis of the success of the recall process between Nigeria and the world. The United Kingdom successfully completed a recall process on the 1st day of May 2019, when its people recalled Fiona Onasanya, a Member of Parliament. Also, the United States of America has enjoyed about eighty-five successes in its recall process, spanning across its various levels of government. However, in Nigeria, there has been no success in the use of the recall process; attempts have been made in Benue, Plateau, and Kogi states. Particular, kudos to the constituents of Kogi West Senatorial district, for in their attempt to recall their lawmaker in the person of Senator Dino Melaye, they were meticulous enough to attach the voter’s card of everyone that signed the petition, requesting for his recall.

It is my utmost belief that the use of information and solutions aforementioned, would enable those rallying the call for a protest to steer clear of being on the wrong side of the law, and gather the necessary recall requirements. This I can safely state would drive home the point, within the confines of the law, and signify our Nation’s first step into holding its leaders accountable. 

Written by Hussain O. Tijani LL. B; B.L; AICA, a Legal Practitioner and can be reached via [email protected]