Some human rights activists have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to restore sanity in the nation’s electoral system by disqualifying President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party from participating in the February 2014 general elections.

The activists   argued on Thursday that since the President and the PDP   knowingly   flouted the Electoral Act which prescribes N1bn as the maximum amount a presidential candidate could incur on electioneering, they deserved to be sanctioned.

The rights activists – Debo Adeniran, Lanre Suraj, Femi Aborisade, Malachy Ugwummadu and Wale Ogunade, also slammed the police authorities for their indifference   to the open   breach of the Act.

Section 91(9) of the Act   reads,   “An individual or other entity shall not donate more than N1m to any candidate.”

Sub-section 10 of the same section adds that   a presidential candidate “who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and on conviction is liable to a maximum fine of N1m or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.”

Section 91(2) of the same Act states that, “The maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall be N1bn.”

Adeniran, who is the Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, said in an interview with The PUNCH on Thursday, that the donation by PDP governors government agencies and public agencies to the Jonathan campaign war chest was distasteful.

According to him, their action ran contrary to the call by the Federal Government on Nigerians to brace   for austerity measures.

The anti-corruption campaigner also pointed out that the donation by players in the power sector amounted to forcing Nigerians who had been made to pay for electricity they were not provided with, to donate to Jonathan’s re-election bid.

He said, “The donation of over N21bn is a demonstration of immorality in government. This is a clear violation of the Electoral Act that specifies just N1bn for expenditure in campaigns. Then that many of those who donated are government agencies accentuates the recklessness and impunity that governs the minds of our rulers.

“In a country where the government is asking the people to tighten their belts,     its agencies   are donating several millions   of naira.

“These also included the people in the power sector who have not been able to supply electricity which the people have paid for. This is to say that people are being forced to contribute to the campaign of the incumbent regime   and that is another level of immorality.

“INEC needs to bar Jonathan and his party from participating in the general elections next year because they knowingly contravened the law governing elections in the country.”

He also challenged the   Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission   to investigate the breach.

“It is not direct robbery that the police can intervene without being invited. It is the duty of the ICPC to set up the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Unit that has the mandate to call to question, all the authorities that are violating transaction and procurement rules like it is being perpetrated by Jonathan and his political party.

“We expect the ICPC to move to check these financial shenanigans.   The ICPC does   not need a petition before they could act.”

On his part,   Aborisade argued that since the police authorities were fully represented at the PDP dinner/fund-raiser on Saturday, they did not require any report or invitation from any quarter to commence investigation.

He said the police   “should not give us the impression that they are only there to protect the interest of the ruling party at the centre.”

“They are to investigate and prosecute crimes committed against the law of Nigeria. The 1999 Constitution and the electoral law   have   been breached and the police are empowered to so act,” Aborisade, who is also a lawyer added.

While he made reference to section 4 of the Police Act to corroborate his stance, he advised   INEC to go ahead and disqualify Jonathan and the PDP .

He said, “They are part and parcel of the Nigerian society. They are fully aware. The police were well represented at the donation. They witnessed it and they do not require any other form of report from anybody. It is public knowledge and they ought to have acted appropriately.

“But not only the police, even INEC ought to disqualify PDP from presenting a candidate and ought to disqualify the candidate of the PDP because they have flouted, in a very disgraceful   and condemnable manner, the Electoral Act.

“I think the INEC should introduce sanity into the Electoral process because with that kind of donation, they are merely saying they can induce every voter so that they can win the 2015 election.

“Our elections should not be monetised; they should be based on issues or ideas   that can uplift the lot of our people as contained in the constitution.”

Also, Ugwummadu lamented that the donation   had demonstrated that “Nigeria has now become a huge theatre of absurdity and one in which clear criminal actions and activities have now worn a garb of comedy.”

He said,     “On the day of the donation which was streamed live on the television, I personally called the leadership of several law enforcement agencies in this country to tell them that they don’t need a complainant to begin to arrest those people who were donating.

“And the fact that the arrest didn’t happen, even as I knew it would not happen, clearly describes the poverty of the situation we find ourselves which is indeed hopeless.

“We are now at the last bus stop before anarchy – that bus stop where 18-year-old girls are now enrolled as suicide bombers in legions; where crimes and criminalities are perpetrated with impunity and encouraged by the ruling political party.”

The activist advised INEC to disqualify the PDP and Jonathan from participating in the elections as “they have been involved in a clear case of criminality.”

(Punch)