The Chairman of the Electoral Reform Panel, Uwais Mohammed.

Senate may adopt Uwais’ recommendation

By Emmanuel Ogala

The Senate may adopt some of the recommendations of the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) that the executive had rejected earlier this year.

This is coming after the report of a “syndicate group” formed by the Senate committee on constitution review at its retreat which ended Saturday in Kaduna. The group was headed by Nicholas Ugbane (PDP Kogi State) and was constituted by Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President and the chairman of the committee on constitution review, to study the recommendation of the Mohammed Uwais-led reform committee, shortly after Mr. Uwais made a presentation to uphold the soundness of his committee’s report.

In their report, the syndicate group accepted the reform committee’s recommendation that the procedure of appointing the chairman and board members of the Independent National Electoral Commission should include the National Judicial Council (NJC), the council of states and the Senate.

The group also accepted the recommendation that the number of judges sitting in electoral tribunals should be cut down from the current five to three members so as to enable quicker disposition of election petition cases.

Other recommendations of the Uwais Committee accepted by the syndicate group include: that elections should be held six months before the expiration of running tenures and that election petitions should be disposed of within four months after elections were held and “that appeals from petitions be disposed of by the appellate courts within two months of the pronouncement of the tribunal/court of first instance”. The group also “accepts two-third majority of members of the Senate in respect of the removal of chairman and members of INEC and rejects the inclusion of 10 senators from the opposition party in the removal process”, according to Mr. Ugbane in his speech while reporting their conclusion to the entire committee members.

Refusal

The recommendations rejected by the group include shifting of burden of proof to INEC, denying INEC the right to appeal tribunal rulings, and balance of probability as the evidential standard of proof.

“The burden of proof rests on the petitioner since it is trite law that he who alleges must prove,” the group said.

It also rejected the issues of gender considerations in the appointment of the deputy chairman for INEC and proportional representation, among others.

Mr. Ekweremadu, however, said the views of the syndicate group only represents an effort in the process and not the opinion of the entire Senate committee on constitutional review.

The committee, however, agreed to adopt an incremental approach in the amendment of the 1999 Constitution, starting with the electoral reforms.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the retreat, the committee also said the Senate will harmonise its position with the House of Repsentatives at the appropriate time, in accordance with the rules of parliament.

“The Senate is determined to conclude the amendment process within a reasonable time especially in time to allow the 2011 general elections to benefit from the amendments.” the communiqué stated.

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Reader Comments (9)

Posted by TATA on Oct 12 2009

WHICH SENATE? THIS ONE...THAT WILL BE THE DAY

Posted by NKWERRE on Oct 12 2009

SO FAR SO GOOD WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SYNDICATE COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE. BUT THE IDEA OF INCREMENTAL APPROACH TO AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION STARTING WITH ELECTORAL REFORMS IS SUSPICIOUS. WE MUST NOT HAVE A SITUATION WHERE AT THE END OF ELECTORAL REFORMS AMENDMENT WE ARE TOLD OTHER AMENDMENTS LIKE INSTITUTING FISCAL FEDERALISM OR CREATING MORE STATES IN THE SOUTRHEAST IS POSTPONED TO THE NEXT SENATE COMING 2011.

Posted by Lolade on Oct 12 2009

This is the best you can count on if you do it right this time around. God bless nigeria.

Posted by Aaron Dobor on Oct 12 2009

Yar a dua”s version of electoral reform is getting his Daughters to marry state executive governors, there by using their states to rig elections there, where his boko Haram religion extremisms does not permit him to exchange his daughters , he cajole and intimidate governors from other Parties to join his rotten party(pdp). That is why he did not give any of his daughters to ohakim, considering the latter”s apetite for young beautiful girls.the imo state governor was forced to dump his god father, (orji kalu) And the ppa , after he was showed a security report on his corrupt and nefarious activities. Nigerian”s view and opinion is that with people like anenih, ibori , aondooakha and iwu around the president, a thorough and honest electoral reform is light years away and utterly a mirage. Nigerians deserve a better deal Aaron dobor……spain thinkingnigeria@yahoo.com.

Posted by Prince Uduma Ewona on Oct 12 2009

This Reforms,if carefully implemented to the latter would definitely produce more Obamas in Nigeria but will our so called leaders follow it? If they do,Nigeria will be a better place for all.President Yar'adua should proved his detractors wrong and implement the recommendations of Uwais Report so that some of us who have the Nigerian nation at heart could contribute our qouta without Godfatherism!

Posted by Prince Uduma Ewona-Obubra LGA on Oct 12 2009

Let Uwais recommendations on the Electoral Reforms be implemented early before 2011 General Elections, please.

Posted by eshofune on Oct 12 2009

I was kind of suspicious about the Uwaise-led reform. How can you bring together the best brains in Law and order, retired chief justices and other legal luminaries, to come up with a legal framework for a reform, and then submit their recommendations to School cert holders and university dropouts? that is a sure formula for chaos, an open show of intellectual bankruptcy. so now the many months work of these Uwaise group (which is highly qualified in the subject matter) is going to be questioned by a legislative 'syndicate' (which has all the meanings of the word) and PDP crooks? Electoral reform my foot!

Posted by Olukayode Anigilaje on Oct 12 2009

The idea of a criminal (that is what an election rigger is even if he claims it was done on his behalf, and it must have been done by that agent in expectation of a criminal reward - CF Uba) running a country or state for even 1 minute is frightening. If he is governor, he will be appointing judges. If he is president, he will also appoint IG. All this while holding office illegally. While the law abiding winner is running around, spending his money to retrieve his mandate, the criminal is spending state money, resources (police, TV, radio, paid thugs etc) to fight the duly elected person both in and outside the court. It is really an abomination. ALL the contestants - including INEC favourite candidate - should fight the election result on a common basis (without anyone having immunity or exercising state power) before the court-adjudged winner steps into office.

Posted by Lawrence Oye on Oct 12 2009

The workings of this democratic dispensation is still alien to us. We over sensationalize ordinary due process of political discuss. The 'Uwais' report and the 'Yar'adua's' report are all exchanges of normal opinion. We should learn to tolerate opposite opinion. The opposition is not always right just as the same for the ruling party . Let us all dispassionately discuss the future of our electoral process and move forward.