A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), in Rivers State have kicked against a Bill currently before the State House of Assembly which seek to ban the use of premises, buildings and sundry structures in residential areas as campaign offices of political parties without the express approval of the State government.
The Bill which is sponsored by Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration is presently drawing the ire of Civil Society Organisations in the State that are insisting that the Bill clearly violates the provisions of Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution as amended which guarantees the right to unhindered peaceful assembly and association to every Nigerian citizen.
The Coalition of the CSOs in Rivers also noted that Section 95(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 prohibits any State from creating a situation whereby a political party or its candidates is given undue advantage in the campaign process to a particular candidate.
The Coalition noted that if passed into law, the Bill seek to prohibits political outdoor advertisement, particularly the posting of bills, posters.
Speaking on the Bill considered as obnoxious and anti-democratic, Chairman of the coalition of the CSOs, Enefa Georgewill, stressed that the proposed Bill is a surreptitious Bill to be used as a smokescreen to gag opposition parties in Rivers State.
He particularly noted that the provisions of the Bill are vires and against the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended, stressing that the power to form political parties and regulations of political parties and its activities is an exclusive preserve of the Federal Legislation as captured in item 56 of the second schedule, legislative powers Part 1, Exclusive Legislative List Section 4 of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria.
Georgewill pointedly said that a State House of Assembly, lacks the powers to legislate on national issues and subjects, stressing that it is only the National Assembly that can enact laws that will be operational in all states of the federation as it affects political parties whether activities, advertisement and others.
This was as the Head of Legal Unit of the Coalition, Mr. Asim Adams, noted that in the exercise of these powers, the National Assembly enacted the Electoral Act, 2022 and its provisions on regulations on party activities and campaigns including advertisements.
Georgewill said; “What is before the Rivers State House of Assembly is an obnoxious bill entitled as above seeking to prohibit the use of residential buildings for non-residential purpose, to prohibit outdoor advertisement, particularly the posting of bills, posters and other materials and the use of state owned institution or public schools for political rallies, and for other connected matters.
“The said bill referred above, has passed its 2nd reading and just last Friday 9th December, RIVCSO got the invite to appear before the house committee on Monday 12th, December, 2022. The said bill is divided into sections and subsections with sections 1-12 as the main sections and subsections also apply, and we shall deal with the relevant obnoxious sections of the bill that includes or demands a political party to seek permission before using public schools or state owned institutions, or public schools for public rallies and for other connected matters including using premises for campaign offices…”
He noted that Section 1 (1) of the proposed Bill, states; No person, whether a natural or juristic person, or association of persons, shall use a residential building for a non-residential purpose except with the prior permission of the state commissioner responsible for urban development and physical planning.
Georgewill said; “It is trite that the urban development and physical planning has an existing laws on the subject matter to the extent that no conversion of residential property to commercial can take place without the consent of the Urban development and physical planning in Rivers State.
“Since there is an existing law on this, it will be tantamount to a duplication of laws in the same state. So, we urge that this section be expunged or amended.
“Section 1(2) of the proposed bill.. states….. pursuant to sub section 2, any political party or group of persons, by whatever description, that intends to use, as a campaign office or for campaign purposes any premises, building or structures in a residential area situate in An urban area in the state, must obtain the relevant permission from the commissioner responsible for urban Development and physical planning or
“Therefore, it is only the National Assembly that can enact laws in all states of the federation as it affects political parties whether activities of advertisement or not.
“Furthermore, this Bill seeks to regulate the election or electoral process. Also, see item 22 of the exclusive legislative list and items 11 and 12 of the concurrent legislative list and it shows that the power to make this kind of laws resides in the National Assembly and not State Houses of Assemblies by spelling out how political parties and their candidates should carry out their campaigns in the state save for elections into Local Government Councils.
“In exercise of these powers, the National Assembly, enacted the Electoral Act, 2022 and its provisions on regulations on party activities and campaigns including advertisements. Section 95 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, states as follows “A candidate and his or her party shall campaign for all elections in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be determined by the Commission”.
“And under section 152 of the Electoral Act 2022, the commission is defined as “the Independent National Electoral Commission established by the constitution.
“If the concern of the state government is that of protection of our public facilities from destructions during political campaigns and rallies, Section 91(1) of the Electoral Act has already taken care of that by entrusting the Commissioner of Police in each state of Nigeria with the responsibilities of providing adequate security for peaceful and orderly campaigns including processions. All the political parties are expected to do, is to inform the Commissioner of Police to enable them provide adequate security.
“Lastly, asking political parties to seek permissions for use of public institutions and posting of signages, amount to giving the ruling party in Rivers State an undue and unfair advantage as the commissioner or Local Government chairman for who you must sought permission to do any of the activities in this bill is a member of the ruling party and would ensure that opposition parties don’t get the approvals.
“Section 88 (1-7) of the Electoral Act 2022 already set out limits of campaign expenses for various candidates and that amount cannot be altered by the Rivers State House of Assembly or any House of Assembly at all, If every candidate and political party were to seek permission and pay N5,000,000.00 to the commissioner or any person so authorized to grant this permission, it then means that the candidates will overshoot this limit because they may have about 100 spots they may want to carry out their campaigns in the state.
“To be clear, political activities are not same with commercial activities. They can be likened to an employment advert of a company where prospective job seekers will apply to manage the company for four years. In this particular instance, Rivers people and Nigerian are the employers and any other political party including the ruling political party in the state, are employees or applicants. Therefore, no applicant no matter his status, should be put at disadvantage during the employment interview. Another dangerous aspect is to put time frame for application. For instance, if you say that political parties should apply within two weeks, it therefore surffix that they will have limited time to cover the 23 Local Government Areas in Rivers state,” the Coalition stressed.
