By Abdul Aji.
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.
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 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
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.
Speaking on this issue recently, the 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?
