The National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, on Monday said the essence of amending the 1999 Constitution should be to deepen democracy and not to serve parochial political interests.
Onu spoke in Abuja when he presented a memorandum to the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review.
The committee held a public hearing on the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission to shift the date of the 2011 elections from January to April.
Onu said there should not be any hidden agenda in INEC’s beyond ensuring the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.
He noted,”it is hoped that the present exercise will serve no other purpose than consolidating on the gains of earlier efforts aimed at strengthening our electoral process.
“Care should be taken to ensure that no other purpose will be served except ensuring that we create the enabling environment for democracy to thrive and endure in our fatherland.”
On the amendment, Onu suggested that it should be ‘transitional’ to apply only to the 2011 elections, while the existing provision of 150-120 days prior to hand over date should be left intact to take effect from 2015.
According to him, giving enough time frame will allow room for litigation to be disposed of before the inauguration of a new government.
“It is wrong for a purported winner of an election to be sworn into office while the suit challenging his election is still in court.
“From our experience, the arm of justice risks being twisted by those who use state power to manipulate the course of justice, which unfortunately may often times be in their favour”, Onu argued.
He also added a voice to the position of the ANPP that all elections should be conducted on the same day instead of having staggered dates.
Onu stated, “We believe that by doing so, we can better determine the true will of the Nigerian people.
“This will help remove the feeling that the subsisting order of elections is deliberately inserted to subvert the unfettered expression of the people‘s will during the forthcoming elections.
“The intended bandwagon effect of such an insertion in favour of any political party raises a fundamental question of whether INEC can be relied upon as a truly independent electoral empire.”
The committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Alhaji Usman Nafada, said it had taken note of Onu‘s contribution.
However, he was reminded that the issue of staggered elections was contained in the Electoral Act, not the constitution.
Nafada told Onu that a separate committee was handling the review of the Act and advised the ANPP‘s chairman to make a presentation to the committee.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101026052515
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