POLITICS
INEC Chairman Tasks NASS on Electoral Reforms
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has urged the National Assembly to use a bipartisan approach in amending the Electoral Act to help improve conduct of elections in the country.
Yakubu made the call at the inauguration of the Joint Technical Committee on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Friday in Abuja.
The event was organised by the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters with support from Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).
He was represented by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.
Yakubu said that the amendment was timely, saying that more fundamentally, the reforms must be impactful, approached from a bipartisan angle, devoid of divisive issues and concluded at least by the first quarter of 2021.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan had in 2020, pledged the commitment of the National Assembly to the passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill by the end of first quarter of 2021.
The INEC chairman welcomed the renewed efforts and commitment by the leadership of the National Assembly towards amending the electoral legal framework for the conduct of elections.
Yakubu said that the renewed drive by the legislature was timely and must be sustained and approached with a sense of history and urgency.
He said that the efforts must be diffused with clearly defined timelines, priority, interventions and strategic thinking.
Yakubu said that the commission was fully committed to the amendment process and would continue to offer suggestions and recommendations that would help improve the regime of elections in the country.
He further said that amending the electoral legal framework would not automatically lead to improvement in the management and conduct of elections.
“The Constitution and the Electoral Act are not self-executory, and both operate through the actions and inactions of the critical stakeholders in the electoral process,” he said.
A member of the Technical Committee, Mr Sadiq Mua’azu said that one of the advantages of the electoral reforms was to bring all amendments together in one document.
Mua’azu said that the major target of the amendment was to ensure that all political parties were gender sensitive as well as eliminate all forms of discrimination in all political parties.
“The bill mandates all political parties to ensure that women leaders are women or persons of the feminine gender and that all youth leaders are between the ages of 18 to 45 at the date of elections into such offices.
“The bill also seeks to increase maximum election expenses to be incurred by Presidential or Governorship Candidates, Senatorial or House of Representatives Candidates.
“The amount was increased for the Presidential election from N1billion to N5 billion and from N200 million to N1 billion for the governorship and for the Senate and House of Representatives it was increased to N100 million and N70 million respectively,” he said.
Sen. Kabiru Gaya, Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, said that the bill when passed and assented would tremendously change the political sphere of the nation.
“The amending of the Electoral Act would indeed positively affect the electoral process and procedures which has posed challenges and raised controversies that have put the mantra of free, fair and credible elections to question,” he said.
He said that the Technical Committee was inaugurated in order to achieve the set timeline for passing the bill by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, pledged to work with the technical committee to ensure unhindered presidential assent to the bill.
Malami was represented by Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reform and International Relations, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu.
“I will continue to work more closely with the National Assembly to ensure that the bill is eventually passed as scheduled.
“I recall that immediately after the 2015 elections, the President approved the inauguration of the constitutional and electoral reform committees in 2016, we have been working with the National Assembly and we came up with four bills that have been approved by the Federal Executive Council and forwarded to the National Assembly,” he said.
In a goodwill message, Head, Governance and Stability, FCDO, Mr Sam Waldock said that the UK was a proud supporter of Nigeria’s democratic process.
“In the last five years, the UK has invested more than 50 million pounds in Nigeria’s democratic process and it’s the largest democracy in Africa and it is the leading member of Commonwealth.
“We commend the National Assembly for its work to reform this legislation which will go a long way even after the next election.
“Setting up a technical sub-committee to expedite the work on this bill is a very important contribution to Nigeria’s electoral legal framework,” he said.
Also, Executive Director, PLAC, Mr Clement Nwankwo expressed optimism that the bill would be passed within the shortest possible time.
“Following the experience of the last failed attempt to sign the Electoral Act in 2018, it is quite clear that this commitment is unanimous on all sides to ensure that we do have a new Electoral Act in place.
” With the support from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, we are able to collaborate with the National Assembly to deliver on the commitment that has been made by the assembly,” Nwankwo said.(NAN)
NNL/COF/ABI
A two-term member of Edo House of Assembly, Mr Ojezele Osesua, has dumped Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).
Osesua, representing Esan South-East Constituency, announced his defection on Monday in Benin at a news conference held at the APC state secretariat.
The development came less than two months after PDP lost the state to APC in the governorship election.
NAN also reports that the lawmaker was received by members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party headed by Jarrett Tenebe.
Osesua said that he decided to dump the opposition party over what he called”irreconcilable crisis.”
He said that his defection was like paying back a debt he owed the ruling when he left the party in 2020, after it had sponsored him to win election in 2019.
“In 2019, I was elected into the assembly on the platform of APC. Due to some challenges, I left the party and joined PDP after one year.
“Though I was elected on the PDP platform in 2023, I have been indebted to APC. It is that debt I have come to pay with my defection,” he said.
On his part, the APC chairman commended the legislator for joining the party.
Tenebe described Osesua as a ‘focused, election-winning’ member, adding: “It’s not APC’s fault that PDP has issues.
“You will recall that during the election campaigns, I said our doors were open and the doors are still open,” he said. (NAN)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of politicising the recent stampedes in Abuja, Anambra, and Ibadan, where several lives were tragically lost.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix Morka, condemned the PDP’s actions, calling them “grossly indecent, insensitive, and despicable.
”Morka criticised the opposition party for using the national grief over the stampedes to launch a political attack on the APC-led administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Morka stated, “At a time of national grief over the stampedes that resulted in the deaths of citizens, the PDP seized the moment to engage in callous political chicanery.
“Rather than genuinely commiserate with the victims and their families, the PDP chose to politicise the tragedy, blaming the incidents on the APC government.”
He emphasised that the tragedies had united Nigerians in mourning and reflection, with a collective focus on how the incidents might have been avoided through better planning and organisation.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims and their families,” Morka added.
Morka also rebuked the PDP for exploiting the stampedes to attack the APC, particularly since the current administration was committed to addressing the challenges inherited from nearly two decades of PDP rule.
He reminded the PDP of the 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment stampede, which occurred under its administration, where many job seekers lost their lives.
“The PDP’s allegations only serve to remind us of its sordid record of maladministration and incompetence,” Morka said.
He noted that the party’s suggestion that President Tinubu’s administration was not committed to the welfare of Nigerians was “mischievous and out of touch with reality.”
He pointed to the current administration’s efforts to invest in alternative energy sources and the introduction of the Credit Corps scheme and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Morka also highlighted salary reviews for workers and increased allowances for corps members as part of the government’s commitment to improving the welfare of Nigerians.
Morka further highlighted the government’s commitment to provide free and subsidised transportation during the holiday period, approving grants for farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and other humanitarian initiatives.
He asserted that this administration is “the most people-centric in our history.”
He also dismissed the PDP’s claim that the APC’s policies had damaged the economy.
“For years, successive PDP governments operated a phantom economy riddled with distortions and corruption, deceiving Nigerians into believing the economy was thriving.”
Morka commended President Tinubu for suspending his scheduled activities to honour the victims and expressed condolences to the families affected by the tragedies.
He wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the incidents.(NAN)
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Journalists covering the Senate have honoured Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, with award on highest number of private member Bills sponsorship.
Records on Private Member Bills sponsorship among serving Senators in the 10th National Assembly , obtained from Rules and Business office , indicated that Senator Barau tops with 21 bills within the last 18 months.
One of the 21 private member bills sponsored by Senator Barau was the NorthWest Development Commission Bill which is now an Act of Parliament legalising the creation of North West Development Commission (NWDC) after assented to, by President Bola Tinubu.
Barau in his response to the honour, said it would make him to do more for his constituents in Kano North Senatorial District and Nigerians generally.
”Your recognition of my legislative inputs in the Senate within the last 18 months, particularly on series of development – driven bills sponsored so far, is something that will energize and propel me further to do more.
“Once you are given an award, it’s a kind of telling you to go and do more. To whom much is given, much is expected.
”This to me also is considered as your contribution to making sure that the legislature remains vibrant.
”Once you identify those who are doing well and you honour them through awards of this nature, that will create some kind of competition and will propel others to do more so that they can be recognized at some other time in the future.
”We can’t perform here in the best manner possible, without your contribution to what we are doing. And you are contributing in a very robust way to what we do here, making us as partners in progress for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians .
”So our relationship with you is sine qua non to our success. We can never succeed without you because without you reporting what happens here , Nigerians can’t know what we are doing,“ he said .
Earlier, the Chairman of the Corps, James Itodo, told the DSP that the honour is strictly on performance as contained in the records and not for any other thing.
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