Senate adopts Electoral Act

President of the Senate, Senat

The Senate on Tuesday passed the conference committee report on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2010.

The Senate and House of Representatives had passed different versions of the amendment bill in almost all the 37 sections and 16 paragraphs in the First Schedule (38-52). A new Section 87(11) seeking to make lawmakers members of NEC of their parties had earlier been deleted by the two chambers, following public rejection of the clause.


Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Senate Conference Committee, Senator Kanti Bello, said after deliberations, the committee adopted the Senate’s version of the bill in sections 1-37 of the bill as well as all the amendments in the First Schedule. He noted that the committee also adopted the House’s version of the amendments to Sections 8, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 36.

Youth groups had on December 14 staged a rally at the National Assembly, Abuja, to kick against the passage of the controversial Section 87 of the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill by the House of Representatives. The rally, which began at 9am at the Eagle Square, proceeded to the National Assembly where armed policemen and State Security Service agents prevented them from marching across the gates of the complex.

The operatives blocked the main entrance to the complex, forcing lawmakers to use the gate behind the assembly. The President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, was also caught in the fray. He tried to use the Presidential gate, but was not allowed to drive through with his convoy.

He immediately alighted from his car and walked his way through the back gate into the chamber. The protesters, who insisted on gaining access into the complex, carried placards with the following inscriptions, ‘No, National Assembly, No,’ ‘We cannot have appointed delegates.’

They argued that if Section 87 of the bill was passed, it would give ‘undue advantage’ to lawmakers in the running of the affairs of their political parties. The controverial section had sought the inclusion of National Assembly members in the National Executive Councils of their political parties.

Shortly after the protesters dispersed, the Senate threw out the controversial section in the bill. In the House of Representatives, the bill also suffered a setback as its scheduled third reading was stood down for ‘another legislative day.’

A Senate committee had recommended on December 13 that one senator and a House of Representatives member should represent each state of the federation and the FCT in the NECs of political parties. The committee had, while submitting the report of the public hearing it held jointly with its counterpart committee in the House of Representatives, urged the Senate to accept its recommendations.

Presenting the report, the committee’s Vice-Chairman and Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Maina Lawan, said the fundamental objective of the bill was to deepen democracy in Nigeria. But when senators began the clause by clause consideration of the bill and came to Section 87, Lawan, in a dramatic manner, rose to call for its removal.

Lawan’s call to have the section deleted received the support of all the senators present, thereby putting to rest the controversy surrounding the amendment of the bill. The Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who briefed journalists, said the decision was in response to public outcry.

He said, “We felt that the issue of having lawmakers as members of the NECs of political parties needed to be settled once and for all. Although the House has passed it, with the public outcry, we felt that we needed to have another look at the bill. We have now removed the aspects that talked about the NEC and we hope that parties should have the liberty to decide the membership of their NEC.”

Asked if the U-turn was as a result of the threats by state governors to go to court, he replied, “They (governors) are only 36 out of about 150 million Nigerians. We are more interested in what Nigerians are saying and not the opinion of governors. We did what we did because of Nigerians.”

He also denied that the removal of the controversial section was as a result of a deal with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, arguing that the Senate considered it an act of wisdom to ‘know that it is time to give up.’

“Wisdom is about knowing when to give up. We are not afraid to give up now that we know the public opinion and we are doing this in the interest of the public. We have gone through primaries before now and we will go through it again, we are not afraid at all,” Ekweremadu added.
Source:http://www.punchng.com