By Musa Baba Adamu
The National Assembly will upon resumption of plenary on February 9, consider and pass the new Electoral Law, the Joint Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters of both Chambers has disclosed.
To this end, the Joint Committee is expected to adopt a final document this weekend, for onward presentation to both chambers for consideration and approval.
According to a statement issued yesterday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Deputy Senate President, Yomi Odunuga, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; Chairman of the Joint Committee, Senator Kabiru Gaya; co-chairman and his counterpart from the House of Representatives, Hon. Aishatu Dukku, stated this at the presentation of the draft report in Abuja.
In his remarks, Omo-Agege, also a member of the committee, said though the process under the Eighth National Assembly was fraught with mutual suspicions and bitterness, electoral reform for the Ninth National Assembly remains a priority in its legislative agenda.
The bill, according to him, would cure specific mischief plaguing Nigeria’s elections and electoral processes when passed into law.
The Delta Central lawmaker applauded the cooperation of stakeholders for putting all hands on deck, with a view to having a new electoral legal framework ahead of the 2023 general election.
According to him, if this level of cooperation was in place in the Eighth National Assembly, the bill would have been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
His words: “The cooperation that we have witnessed in this Joint Committee of the Ninth Assembly is unprecedented. I am sure if we had this in the Eighth Senate there is no way we would have gone into the 2019 elections without an approved amended Electoral Act.
“Let me also acknowledge that, but for the cooperation of INEC and the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, this feat would not have been possible. I recall the challenges that we faced then. As most of you know, I was very instrumental in drafting most of those provisions that we dealt with in the Eighth Senate. If we had the benefit of the cooperation of INEC at the outset like we are having right now and also cooperation of the AGF, I am sure we would have cleared this long ago.
In their separate remarks, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu; Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, applauded the technical committee for working round the clock to produce the draft report.
They noted that the development is expected to lay the foundation for significant development in the country’s electoral system.
The bill seeks to repeal the Electoral Act 2010, and provide a more stable and progressive legal framework for elections in Nigeria.
