An Analysis of the Legal Framework on Nomination and Sponsorship of a Candidate for Election as Governor of a State in Nigeria

Abstract

The inelegant drafting of the Electoral Act No. 6 of 2010 is responsible for the high level of judicial determination of election outcomes. Subsequent amendments have increased the confusion counsel take to Election Petition Tribunals. What obtains in Nigeria today is a heightened belief that the tribunals are the venue for obtaining election victory. In this paper, I analyse the legal framework on nomination and sponsorship of a candidate for election as Governor of a State. I argue that nomination and sponsorship are not the same and that once a candidate is sponsored by a political party, whatever the process the party determines to do so, the sponsorship cannot be challenged as non-compliance with provision of the Act and thus a ground for an Election Petition as provided for at s. 138(1)(b). The paper recommends that relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 with the words ‘selection’, ‘nomination’, and ‘choice’ of candidates by political parties be amended by replacing these words with the word ‘selection’ to denote that the process specified is an internal political party matter necessary for the emergence of a political party candidate for an election. In appropriate places, the word ‘nomination’ should also be replaced by the word ‘sponsor’ as the case may be. This will make it possible for the provision of s. 32 ss. (1), (2), (3), (4) & (5) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to remain the only provisions in the Act that have the word nomination in them. This provision is the connection between a political party candidate and his constituents as acknowledgement that both political party and the candidate are in touch with those they aspire to represent in government. The process of nomination specified at section 32 is what cements and completes the processes leading to the presentation of a political party candidate to the Election Management Body as its candidate at an election.