By Cosmas Omegoh

Activist and constitutional lawyer, Fred Nzeako, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party still have an open window to change their vice presidential candidates seen as placeholders contrary to what people now believe.

Among other things, he emphasised that anyone still holding to the belief does not understand what the constitution says.

He spoke on this and more. 

What opportunities do APC and Labour Party still have to change their placeholder vice presidential candidates in the light of what INEC was reported to have said about this?    

I have a good laugh when people say the parties that have so far submitted the names of their placeholders do not have the opportunities to change them.

What the law says is that the individual(s) to be changed will have to show evidence of voluntary withdrawals from the race, a situation the parties must have long taken care of before submitting those names in place-holding positions. And so anyone saying such window of opportunity is closed for the parties does not understand what the constitution is saying. 

Is the placeholder game novel?

This window of substitution is not novel. It has been there. At the end of every primary election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allows political parties to change their candidates in case there is a need for them to do so. What we are seeing now, therefore, is that political parties are capitalising on that opportunity to place people in the gap, pending when they get what they call “appropriate candidates.” So that window is not new. But it has become very open and very glaring now that it is being practised at the highest level – the presidential level.

So, one will be safe to say that this window is constitutional?    

There is nothing wrong in saying so. Of course, you recall that backed by the constitution, INEC has  every authority to conduct elections in the way and manner they deem fit, provided they operate within the ambit of the constitution, and the Electoral Act. We know that INEC feels that for it to conduct credible elections, it has to employ its own procedures. We also know that sometimes political parties may conduct their primaries in such a hurry that they might need to tidy their acts before they submit their final lists. Because the Supreme Court has decided that it is the duty of political parties to handle their internal affairs and submit their names to INEC, that act does not breach any laws of the land at all. And so, what we are seeing now is INEC procedure. The way the constitution comes in is that it gives INEC the authority to conduct elections. It is part of the processes for INEC to conduct elections. It has its own laws and regulations. And so, one can say it is under the rules and regulations of INEC to conduct elections. Those rules and regulations are supported by the constitution and the Electoral Act. In that instance, there is no breach of the law at all. There is none absolutely. But where a breach might come in is when there is a final date – because election is a process that has an infinite date. Once there is a final date for submission of the names, and none is submitted, that’s where the laws will be activated because the laws provide that the presidential candidate must have a running mate. It is when the candidates fail to provide running mates that the laws will be activated, and that is why whichever names – provided they are those of human beings – will fly. Therefore, the parties are still within the laws and procedures of INEC to substitute such names.

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So what is the time limit for submission of running mates?

Yes, there is a time limit. Now, INEC has said after the primary elections, submit the names of your running mates within so and so time. So, there is a deadline, and the parties have beaten that. But the next deadline will be before so and so time; if there is any replacement that will be done by any political party, it must be done within the said period. So, the parties are still within that period. As long as that period has not passed the parties are still within that the INEC time frame.

Now, people say this game is risky and sensitive, what is your take on that?

The game the parties are playing is sensitive because the president and vice president that are the most critical offices in the land. Therefore, the placeholder game is sensitive because one must also ensure that the right person(s) is nominated. It is sensitive because the person(s) so nominated must be right in the eyes of the party, and right in the eyes of the public, and right in the eyes of the polity in terms of balancing of power and balancing of relationship – balancing of everything that needs to be balanced. That is where the sensitivity comes in. Here, we are talking about faith-based issues – will the person be a Muslim, or will he be a Christian or will he be an atheist? Who is the person coming? Because faith plays a big role in the affairs of mankind in Nigeria. That is where the sensitivity comes in; aside from that, the office of the vice president is, although it is subservient to that of the president, a very critical office because any one who is a vice presidential candidate must also be a presidential material. Because if peradventure, nature calls, it is the vice president that will step in because the president is no longer there. Even if nature does not call, when the president either travels out or is incapacitated, it is still the vice president that will take over and plays the role of the president. Therefore, whoever that is coming as the vice president should also have the capacity to be a president. And that is where it is very important.

What could go wrong with this placeholder game?

Two things could go wrong with this arrangement, even though one of them is very remote. First, the Electoral Act 2022 has said that anybody whose name has been submitted by INEC cannot be removed unless that individual personally writes a letter of resignation to INEC, signed by him   without any form of coercion. But a funny situation might arise when a placeholder, who ordinarily is not a presidential material, and who is not a vice presidential material, but was chosen to stand in the gap, refuses to resign or sign his resignation letter. But I think that politicians are not fools. They are smart enough that even when that placeholder’s name has been submitted to INEC, he must have signed a resignation letter in advance so that anytime he is asked to resign, it is a matter of picking that letter he has signed, and submitting it to INEC thereby making the substitution an effortless one. Now, the second major risk that is facing political parties is the decision of that person who will run for vice president. PDP have had their own. They have a person of northern extraction and of Muslim faith as presidential candidate, and a person of southern extraction and Christian faith as a vice president. That means that the party is settled and good to go. But APC as a ruling party has not settled its own. It has a candidate at the presidential level of a southern extraction, and a Muslim. It is yet to find a vice presidential candidate from wherever. Of course, Nigerians expect the party to balance the politics of inclusion and respect the North- South divide. And so, naturally it is expected that the running mate of the APC candidate should come from the North. The challenge facing the party now is whether that person is going to be a person of Christian faith or Muslim faith. That sensitivity is why the members are running up and down now trying to sort themselves out. But whatever option they come up with, Nigerians will analyse and take their decisions on the day of polling. Other parties also have similar challenge. The Labour Party and New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) are still holding talks so as to form a Third Force with other like-minded political parties and present a formidable challenge to the ruling party and the main opposition party.  So everything is still in a state of flux. The political scene is still fluid. By the time they begin to crystalise, that is when we begin to see the real issues. I’m sure that they will sort themselves out before electioneering starts.

Do you see any legal issues cropping up from this placeholder deal?

In some pockets of locations, there could be some legal issues. But at the presidential level, I don’t think there will be because whoever they have used as a placeholder they would have clipped his wings and tied his hands in a manner that he will not be able to put up any fight from the place of being a placeholder to challenging for office holder. But in some other scenarios, we have seen and read especially as it concerned the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan whom they said his privately-arranged placeholder has refused to yield ground, and surrender the mandate given to him. The man having monitored the primaries and won the primary election has his name there. But the party has gone ahead to submit Ahmad Lawan’s name. That is a very potential issues and subject matter of litigation in court because the bird dancing on the street has drummers playing for him somewhere in the bush. So, I guess the man might have some strong backing on how to go about it. That of former Governor Godswill Akpabio and others like him are where I see there will be legal challenges if they don’t sort themselves out. But at the presidential level as it concerns the APC and Labour Party, I do not envisage such challenges.

So, INEC is like a dock sitting and watching?

Yes, INEC is there sitting and watching patiently, taking notes and comparing the notes it is taking to see how they affect or breach the provisions of the Electoral Act and the constitution. If nothing breaches the constitution of the land, INEC will maintain a blind eye. Of course, it may not be the one to go to court or fight for the candidates or the political parties. But anyone that goes to court will, of course, join INEC in the suit; INEC will be there, telling the court what it knows and what it feels about the matter. That will help the court in taking a final decision when the time comes.