Re: A Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe over defection to APC

Civil Servants Unaware of Their Rights to Join Political Parties

Supreme Court gave the ruling as part of its clarification of the November 8, 2002

A presidential female aspirant on the platform of the PDP for the 2023 upcoming election, and Presidential Aspirant of Mass Action Joint Alliance (MAJA) in the 2019 election, Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies sends her  hearty congratulations to Nigerian lawmakers and every Nigerian following the ruling that, “a Federal High Court in Abuja sacked the Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe over defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). What a great news to read, and quite commendable too.”

A Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe over defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is what to me is called justice and so justifiable if such ruling will continue to thrive in our nation, Nigeria.

One can cite a visible and parallel example to that, “The issue of the governor defection is like sending a citizen of a country as ambassador to another country and he got there, renounced the citizenship of the country he is representing and still want to retain the ambassadorial position. It is not possible.” Oh no, this is un called for and as such must be unacceptable, and hence kudos to the presiding Judge.” Adesanya-Davies asserts.

A similar judgement on political positions that needs an applause was the case of, the BREAKING NEWS on how “Civil Servants Are Unaware of Their Rights to Join Political Parties” posted by Admin of NEWSPOLITICS, Abdul Aji, on June 29, 2018, 00:00 AM.

The educative report reads as follow: “It is worrisome to report that most civil servants in Nigeria are not aware of a Supreme Court judgement that allows civil servants to join political parties of their choice.

Adding that, “To the delight of everyone, Nigerian civil servants can now enjoy membership of any political party of their choice; this is according to a landmark judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, as it ruled that civil servants can be members of political parties of their choice as provided for by the 1999 Constitution.

The judgement is as follows: The Supreme Court has given the landmark judgment as it ruled that civil servants can be members of political parties of their choice as provided for by the 1999 Constitution. The Electoral Act 2001, barred civil servants from holding membership of political parties

It was ascertained, “The Supreme Court gave the ruling as part of its clarification of the November 8, 2002, judgment in which it nullified most of the guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on registration of new political associations.

In a judgment delivered by His Lordship, the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais (Rtd.), the apex court declared that any guidelines, be it Independent National Electoral Commission’s electoral guidelines, civil service rule or the Electoral Act, that bars civil servants from belonging to political parties is inconsistent with Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution.”

Therefore, speaking on this issue and re-echoing the matter, the Ex-Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, called on Nigerians, including civil servants, to register with the political parties of their choice to improve the quality of governance in the country.

He also called for the use of electronic voting for party primaries to make them more transparent and credible.
Ekweremadu made the calls at the inauguration of the ‘Responsive Political Party Programme in Nigeria’ by the International Republican Institute in Abuja.

He said, “The notion that civil servants cannot be members of political parties in Nigeria is unfounded. For the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court is clear on this in the case of INEC versus Musa and others (2003).

“This section clearly provides that ‘every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests.’

“By belonging to a political party, civil servants will also be in a position to block the nomination of leaders, who do not care about their welfare.”

He said the National Assembly was working on removing the restrictions on electronic voting from the electoral laws to enable technology to play greater role in creating more credible and transparent electoral process which would reduce election petitions.

The lawmaker, however, stressed that the credibility of any electoral process starts with a free, fair and credible primary election.

Ekweremadu added, “Unfortunately, our political parties still operate manual membership registers that are largely unreliable and obsolete.

“To get their primaries right, political parties should upgrade to both electronic register and electronic voting systems. This will substantially reduce pre-election disputes.

Reacting to the news also, the House of Representatives chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, said a proposal to legalise civil servants’ participation in partisan politics is debatable and will be passed as appropriate. He said, “It is not a matter that would take a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. It would be debated. This is democracy; the National Assembly is the legislature. Such a matter will normally come through a bill.” The question however is that, can the National Assembly nullify the provisions in the 1999 constitution and the court rulings of the Supreme Court?

Towing this line, in 2018, “some civil servants, who contested and lost out in the party primaries conducted by political parties, returned to their positions, Daily Trust reported.”

A case in mind is a civil servant, who contested for the governorship seat in his state. He explained that, “a Supreme Court ruling had given them the go ahead to participate in politics, insisting that they could only retire from service after winning the primaries ahead of the real elections.”

Idris Mamman Durkwa, a Director at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, who lost out during gubernatorial primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Borno State, said the law was explicit on civil servants and politics.

Durkwa in a phone interview with the Daily Trust confirmed that he had gone back to his duty post after he failed to secure the gubernatorial ticket in Borno.

“The constitution of the country is very clear about this. Only if you are contesting in a general election that you are mandated to resign from service 30 days to the general elections, that is all; and I can serve you with judgements upon judgements of the Supreme Court about this. Even the APC guidelines allow you to contest primaries and go back to your work.”

Before Durkwa, Mr. Bitrus Bako Nabasu, Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, had in 2015 returned to his duty post after losing out in the PDP gubernatorial primary in Plateau State.

Recently also, Barrister Amanda Pam, the erstwhile secretary, Health Services at the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), returned to work after running unsuccessfully for a senatorial ticket in the FCT. She has since been redeployed to the Social Development Services (SDS) of the FCT.

There are equally instances in some states where some civil servants were reinstated after they failed in their bid to get the tickets of their political parties to vie for political offices.

In Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson week reinstated all civil servants who even resigned to contest in the PDP primaries, along with political appointees who failed to get tickets.

Similarly, earlier, in January 2018, Supreme Court judgement had ruled that civil servants could be members of political parties of their choice as provided for in the 1999 Constitution.

The Supreme Court ruling was part of its clarification of the November 8, 2002 judgement in which it nullified most of the guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on registration of new political associations.

In a judgment delivered by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais, the apex court declared that any guideline, be it INEC’s electoral guidelines, civil service rule or the Electoral Act, that bars civil servants from belonging to political parties is inconsistent with Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests.”

As for what lawyers say: when contacted after all, lawyers also support, no law expressly forbids civil servants from participating in politics provided they resign their office 30 days before contesting for an elective position at the general election.

The lawyers said the provisions of sections 66 (1); 107 (1) (f); 137 (1) (g); 142(2); 182 and 187(2) of the 1999 Constitution are consistent that an individual in public service must resign their position 30 days to an election (general) for all the various positions such as: Senate, House of Representatives, House of Assembly, Governor and Deputy Governor, President and Vice President.

In his view, Ahmed Raji (SAN) said the Supreme Court had pronounced on the matter that every Nigerian, including civil servants, can associate freely in political parties.

“They can retain their position as candidates but before the national general election, they must resign or seek leave of absence or sabbatical holiday as the case may be, that is what the constitution says,”

Also, former Attorney General of Ekiti State, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) said no law bars civil servants from belonging to political parties and participating in political activities.

“Interestingly enough, when I was Attorney General, I had to give an advice about it that there is no such law,” he said.

“Take for instance that the constitution says that if anybody wants to contest for an election, the person has to resign from office within a given period of time. So that to my mind suggests that the law envisages that the person must have been participating in politics one way or the other while in office. So, it is only when the person now wishes to contest the general election that the law would require him or her to resign or ask for leave of absence or sabbatical.

Citing Section 222 of the Constitution, Hamid Ajibola Jimoh Esq. said it is the right of every Nigerian, including civil servants, to belong to political parties except those exempted by nature of their work.

Top federal civil servants told Daily Trust that while they were aware of their constitutional rights to join any association, they were also aware of the need to be loyal to the constitution and organs of the government irrespective of the person or party in government.

“As you said, there are some civil servants that participated in elections and came back to their posts after losing the primaries. In as much as the superior officers did not raise any issue, which they should not, I think there is no problem,” one of the officials added.

… Read more

https://dailytrust.com/how-civil-servants-return-to-posts-after-losing-primaries

https://dailytrust.com/how-civil-servants-return-to-posts-after-losing-primaries

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