By Ahmed Rahma
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday explained its inability to create new electoral constituencies.
The explanation was given in a statement issued in Abuja by the National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye.
The electoral umpire, which said it was responding to recent reports regarding its responsibilities in the division, revision and adjustment of electoral constituency boundaries in Nigeria, noted that while the division of the country into electoral constituencies for Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly was its responsibility, once they are established, subsequent revision of the constituencies and/or adjustment of their boundaries are the joint responsibilities of the agency and the National Assembly.
According to Mr Okoye, any such revision or adjustment must be passed by a resolution of the two houses of the National Assembly, namely the Senate and the House of Representatives.
He said, “As a result, the commission has been in discussion with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to arrange a meeting with the leadership of the Assembly to address some of the difficult issues in the division, revision and alteration of electoral constituency boundaries in Nigeria.
“Some of these issues, which the commission had previously brought to the attention of the National Assembly, include the following: ‘The 1999 Constitution (as amended) does not place an obligation on INEC to revise or alter the boundaries of constituencies every 10 years, as has been canvassed by some opinions in the media. For the avoidance of doubt, Section 73 (1) of the Constitution provides for that to happen at intervals of ‘not less than 10 years.’
“This implies that it can only happen from 10 years and above. Therefore, the commission is not in breach of the Constitution, since the revision could happen in 10 years or more.
“The Constitution also provides that the commission may embark on revision and adjustment after a national census, creation of States or by an Act of the National Assembly [Section 73 (2)].
“None of these conditions actually exists at the moment. The last population census was conducted in 2006, about 15 years ago. The commission feels that revising and/or altering constituencies based on 15-year-old population data is inappropriate because the well-known rapidity of population changes in Nigeria would make nonsense of any outcome.
“In any case, the National Population Commission (NPC) is working on conducting another census and it seems reasonable to await its outcome.
“On the other hand, no new states have been created in Nigeria since the Constitution came into effect in 1999 nor is there an Act of the National Assembly requesting INEC to activate the relevant sections of the Constitution on division, revision and alteration of electoral constituencies.
“On the state constituencies to be created in each state of the federation, the Constitution provides that the number for each state should be three or four times the number of its federal constituencies (seats in the House of Representatives), subject to a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 40.
“The problem is that some states presently have three times the number of their seats in the House of Representatives, others have four times; others have the minimum of 24 and yet others have reached the maximum of 40.
“For some, their present number of State Assembly constituencies is neither three nor four times the number of their House of Representative seats. This motley distribution calls for more clarity in the division, revision and alteration of electoral constituency boundaries, which in fact may require constitutional amendments.
“There is also the question of the so-called suppressed constituencies. Essentially, these are constituencies that existed prior to the coming into force of the 1999 Constitution. The canvassers for these constituencies argue that they have been “suppressed” in the present dispensation.
“Forty-two cases were filed in various courts across the country requesting INEC to be compelled to ‘restore’ 62 constituencies. The Commission has consistently argued that the idea of ‘restoration of a constituency’ is both legally questionable and practically improbable.
“It is questionable to ask INEC to restore constituencies that existed under an old constitutional order in the present one. For example, the present Constitution provides for the maximum seats in the House of Representatives and the multiples of that for State House of Assembly constituencies. Restoring all old constituencies from a different constitutional order would definitely mean that the number set by the present Constitution may be exceeded.
“Besides, there have been many previous constitutional orders, each with its own specification of limits on the number of constituencies. Furthermore, which of the old constitutional provision should we restore? Perhaps, some people may even ask for the restoration of the four constituencies in Calabar and Lagos created in 1922 following the Clifford Constitution.
“Also, it is a misnomer to talk of suppressed constituencies because some of the constituencies have been divided territorially as a result of state creation and boundary adjustments, creation of Local Government Areas, as well as the creation of the subsisting electoral constituencies.”
Mr Okoye further noted that while some of the court judgments in the cases on these so-called suppressed constituencies have agreed with the position of the commission, others have gone for the “suppressed constituency” canvassers and that in yet other cases, the commission has appealed the judgments.
“These are some of the challenges that have constrained the commission on the question of revision and adjustment of electoral constituencies.
“Yet, the commission is not oblivious of the importance of balanced constituency delimitation on the democratic and electoral processes. However, these are complicated legal, political and practical issues.
“This is why the commission has requested for a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly to resolve these issues and build the necessary consensus that will ensure that any revision of electoral boundaries will be passed by the National Assembly, unlike in the past when the Commission’s proposals on revision and alteration of electoral constituencies received no response from the Assembly.
“The commission is presently preparing a comprehensive discussion paper on these issues to assist in its engagement with the National Assembly.
“The commission wishes to put on record the frank and open discussions with the leadership of several committees of the National Assembly and their support on these issues and also appeals for public support to ensure that the right atmosphere exists for the commission to continue to do its work in this regard.
“For emphasis, the Commission also wishes to state that the issue of electoral constituencies is separate and distinct from the ongoing consultation on voter access to polling units in Nigeria”, he added.
