– The Senate is now beaming its searchlight on the commission while advising President Buhari to immediately do the needful Nigeria may again be sliding politically as the Senate, on Wednesday, September 27, 2016, raised its fear that the 2019 election may be seriously affected. According to the upper chamber of the legislature, the election may suffer following a crisis that is rocking the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC currently has no Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in 20 of the 36 states and as a result, there is no way it can effectively conduct any credible election.
The Guardian reports that a motion to this effect was sponsored by Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy Senate president, who argued that the refusal to appoint RECs in 20 states of the federation breaches of section 14 (2) of the Third Schedule of the amended 1999 constitution. The Senate therefore wants President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately nominate qualified persons to fill the vacancies to give the electoral body adequate time to prepare for future elections. INEC on its part has been bedevilled by cases of inconclusive elections, and the Senate called the attention of the electoral body to this asking it to immediately ensure the pending issues are resolved.
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The committee on INEC was also mandated to organise a public hearing to review the performance of the commission in the last one year to ascertain its challenges. Senate President Bukola Saraki also reportedly urged INEC to conclude elections in affected constituencies. INEC, after the 2015 general election, has conducted many other elections but most of these have been rendered inconclusive.
NAIJ.com
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