Political travails: Who is afraid of the youth?

BY FRANCIS AKINLOTAN

Any unsuspecting member of the public would mistake the lowering of the age of eligibility to contest for public office through the passing of the “Not Too Young Bill” as an act or sign of encouragement or inclusion in political participation of the Youth by the Federal Government through its agency, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a fact: INEC’s continuous victimization of the Youth Party; the dodgy clause 78(7) in the Electoral Bill where it seeks to restrict the democratic space to two big parties; and its refusal to conduct a year round continuous voter’s registration since 2017 until 28th June, 2021, which would have made citizens who turned 18 years of age after the last registration process (April, 2017) eligible to vote and voted for, speaks volume to the same end. Is INEC morphing into an enemy of democracy? Currently, all new registered voters who are largely youth (65% plus) have been banned from voting in the impending the Local Government Polls in Lagos and Ogun States by administrative fiat. And, they have already been disenfranchised from all the local government elections conducted since the last registration.

Youth Party commenced the process of registration in December 2016, and INEC was against us from the onset. We had to get a Court Judgment to be considered for registration at all. Essentially, we had to get a judgment to get an application form. A process that should not take 3 months according to the law took more than 2 years with dire consequences. Eventually, our Party was not registered until 14th August, 2018, just a few days before the commencement of primaries for the 2019 general elections. This was despite a judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on 20th October 2017 directing INEC to register the Party. This late registration of our Party affected our ability to perform at the 2019 general elections. Meanwhile, INEC was busy with the amendment of the Constitution in a manner that would empower it to deregister the Party immediately after the 2019 election. INEC sponsored the amendment of Section 225A of the Constitution, whilst delaying our registration. The said Section 225A was amended to require performance of parties at election, without giving any period to allow the parties to grow organically. Nonetheless, we fielded 11 (Eleven) candidates for House of Representatives and States Houses of Assembly all over the country in those elections.

Immediately after the 2019 election, INEC threatened to deregister our Party.
Consequently, we commenced a court action against INEC in January 2020, at the Federal High Court, Abuja. All other political parties that sued INEC were left off the deregistration list and the Commission cited pending litigation but not Youth Party.

INEC resorted to self-help unbecoming of an unbiased electoral umpire.
Subsequently, judgment was delivered in our favour on 12th October, 2020. The dictum of Honourable Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court in his judgment, in Youth Party v. INEC, is profound, where he held that:

“the Defendant is not above the law. No person or parties to an action isallowedto resort to self-help when an action is pending in Court. The claimthat theDefendant has power pursuant to S.225A(b) & (c) of the 1999Constitution (asamended) to de-register a political party does not justify theaction of theDefendant while this action is pending. The Defendant mustunderstand that theconstitution is not an author of confusion. I condemn theaction of the Defendantas a wrong exercise of might. Therefore, the deregistration of the Plaintiff duringthe pendency of this action by the Defendantis illegal, null and void, and liableto be set aside. Consequently, I hereby makean order setting aside the deregistration of the Plaintiff”.

Subsequently, INEC appealed against the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja and the Court of Appeal held, through a unanimous Judgment delivered by Hon. Justice T.Y. Hassan,J.C.A., that our purported deregistration was illegal, null and void, holding that:

“This Court will not hesitate to sustain the decision of the Lower Court whichpulled down and dismantled the edifice that the Appellant built on self help whenit deregistered the Respondent not only during the pendency of the Suit butwhenit had been served with and had reacted to the motion for interlocutoryinjunctionseeking to restrain the Appellant from the very act it helped itself toactualize extrajudicially. To say the least, we find the Appellant action very reprehensible, the Lower Court as any court of law would have done, actedcorrectly by setting asidethe deregistration of the Respondent. We have noreason to interfere with theorder made by the Lower Court and same besustained”

Despite the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court that was upheld on appeal, which has neither been set aside nor stayed, INEC has refused to list our Party on its website as a registered Party or allowed us to participate in any election in the Country. INEC is in continuous flagrant breach of the universally and constitutionally protected human rights of our members to freedom of association.

We have delivered several letters to INEC to allow our Party and its members participate in a number of bye-elections and local government elections, to no avail. Specifically, we were illegally and unfairly excluded from the bye elections in Lagos, Abia, Zamfara and Bayelsa; and the LG polls in Ondo, Sokoto, Bayelsa, Ekiti and Oyo States. INEC’s disgust for the Youth Party extends to rejecting any letter from them.

Currently, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) is about to conduct local government elections in Lagos States State and our Party wishes to field candidates and participate in the election. However, INEC has refused to confirm the status of our Party to LASIEC despite the judgments of Courts. Thus, Youth Party and its members are being denied the right to freely participate in the said upcoming local government elections in Lagos State. Most importantly, INEC’s actions are contemptuous and if allowed to continue, erodes public trust and belief in the Country’s electoral and judicial system as it now sits on appeal on Court’s judgements relating to Youth Party’s judgements. It chooses which judgement to obey. Fairness and justice are important for the progress of our Nation.

Consequently, our Party, again, approached the Federal High Court in its bid to ensure participation in the forthcoming Lagos Council Election fixed for 24th July, 2021, and compel INEC and LASIEC’s to respect the rule of law, particularly obedience of judicial decisions. This Country belongs to all of us.

The Federal High Court, Lagos, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/625, before His Lordship, Honourable Justice Akintayo Aluko, granted an order of injunction in a case filed by the Youth Party on Monday, 12th July, 2021. The Court ruled and granted our prayers after the application was argued eloquently by Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, S.A.N., wherein he narrated the “travails of the Youth”, that:

‘INEC and LASIEC are restrained whether by themselves, their agents, privies, employees, officers or anyone whosoever acting for them and on their behalf from conducting the forthcoming Lagos State Local Government elections scheduled for 24th July, 2021 or any other elections whatsoever to the exclusion of the Applicant.

In essence, any election conducted to the exclusion of Youth Party would be illegal, null and void: an exercise in futility.

Whilst the number of political parties in Nigeria, which stood at 91(Ninety-One) at the last election, generated a lot of concern, it is noteworthy that more advanced electoral systems have similar numbers, for instance South Africa has 93, Brazil 33, USA 32, Ghana 24 and even the UK has 18 political Parties. The number of Parties is not a problem but the lack of proper and unbiased oversight. For example, many of the parties registered by INEC did not have verifiable offices as required by law and their officers were place holders. Similarly, many of the parties don’t file their financial records as required by law. We would not have had many unworthy parties, if INEC was carrying out its oversight role diligently. Waging war against the Youth is a bad omen for the Country.

In summary, INEC should be advised to allow the youth to participate in the political space in the interest of the Country: obey court orders by allowing Youth Party to participate; allow the youth to vote after registration; and, withdraw Section 78(7) of the Electoral Bill. On our part, we are committed to democratic processes and the respect for the rule of law. Most importantly, we believe in the expansion of the democratic space, where plural voices are encouraged. Sadly, the converse is the case today in Nigeria.