JEGA AND THE CREATION OF POLLING UNITS; MUCH A FUSS ABOUT NOTHING Among the burning issues bedeviling nigeria at the extant time, is the issue of creation of more polling units. Sometime last month the chairman of the independent electoral commission,INEC,established pursuant to section 153 of the 1999 constitution, announced a plan to add an extra 30,027 polling units to the existing 119,973 created by NECOM in 1996,to bring it to 150,000. Out of the additional number,the north was to get roughly 22,000 leaving the south with a meagre 8,000. This seeming inequality has attracted a lot of opprobrium and vituperation especially from those in the southern states like the southern nigeria peoples assembly,SNPA and its public figures. The reason for this ridiculous criticism is not far fetched. Among other things,is the claim of INEC chairman having a sinister motive to sideline and short-change the south and give the north an undue advantage. This article does not aim at refuting or concuring with either side, but to 1. elaborate on the authority of INEC to create polling units 2. to explore whether the reason given in the creation of these polling units justifies its establishment and 3. subsequently evince that developmental strides are still very distant in sight in nigeria. The independent national electoral commission(INEC) is among the 14(fourteen) federal executive bodies establish under s.153(1) of the 1999 constitution. It is the only body in the constitution vested with the power and authority to establish polling units,register voters,enlist candidate for an election,provide calendar for the conduct of an election,conduct an election and publish results of an election.(see generally,the electoral act 2010). It is however intresting to note that pursuant to s.158 of the constitution,in exercising its power to make appointments or to exercise displinary control over persons, INEC is NOT subject to the direction or control of any other authority or person. It is right at this point to infer that creation of additional polling unit is not an exercise of displinary control neither is it an exercise to make appointments and as such is under varying control of possibly the executive that appoints its head. But the constitution is not yet done. It provides further in s.160 that the power of INEC to make its own rules or otherwise regulate its own procedure shall not be subject to the approval or control of the president. This position of the law is obvious. That is to say,if INEC decides that it no longer wants the polling units in the country to be in the number it was before and wants to add additional ones,then in her rules any action taken by the president in relation to this rule is as effective as romancing a stone. Similarly,the action of establishing more polling unit can be couched in as a regulation of INECs procedure. This claim is made clearer with the wordings of s.42 of the Electoral Act 2010 which providpesthe commission(INEC) shall establish sufficient number of polling units in each registration area and shall allot voters to such polling units thus it follows from this, that INEC is duly recognised by law as the body vested with the power to establish polling unit and such polling units so establish is not subject to the ratification of any authority in nigeria. POLLING UNITS NOT CONSTITUENCIES A clear distinction should be made between a polling unit and a constituency because majority of the nay sayers to this progressive venture are those who doesnt seem to understand the clear cut differences of both terms. It is indeed more than a platitude to say when people fail the understanding test, they pass for criticism. To succintly give a clear definition and elucidation of the two terms, a proper reference need to be made to the constitution which is the grundnorm of the country legal purview. By virtue of s.49 of the 1999 constitution,the meaning of constituency was roughly stressed as a constituency of nearly equal population and shall not fall within more than one state. in essence and by the same section,a constituency is deliminated for the purpose of representing the people in the house of representative. TO BE CONTINUED
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:14:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015