Posted by From Azimazi Momoh-Jimoh and Pascal Nwigwe, Abuja on
OVER a year after the electoral bill arrived at the National Assembly, it was eventually passed yesterday by the Senate.
OVER a year after the electoral bill arrived at the National Assembly, it was eventually passed yesterday by the Senate.
But the House of Representatives will begin today its own debate on the bill that will guide the conduct of the 2007 polls.
The debate, which was to have begun yesterday morning, was stepped down on the strength of arguments by members of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD).
At the final deliberation on the bill, the Upper House pegged the financial donation an individual could make to a politician during campaigns at N10 million, contrary to N2 million proposed in the earlier bill submitted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Senate also ruled out independent candidature and insisted that election petitions would now be concluded by tribunals and courts before the swearing-in of any elected officer.
ANPP representatives, Garba Nasiru Dantiye (Jigawa) and Ali Ndume (Borno) argued that members of the House of Representatives required adequate consultations before debating the Electoral Bill.
Seeking a period of one week to study the document, the Reps claimed that many members were yet to receive copies of the Bill from the Committee on Rules and Business, whose responsibility it is to circulate such matters
to members prior to debate.
"We cannot debate what we do not have knowledge of. The bill should be made to reach every member, after which they will be given time to study it first and make consultations," he said.
AD Leader, Wummi Bewaji (Lagos), also cited an Order in the Rules of the House of Representatives stipulating that a Bill can only be debated after the members must have been served with the Principal Act which it seeks to repeal.
In response to this, Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Ennang (Itu/Ibiono), said that the Principal Acts about to be repealed were circulated round to members during the second reading stage as stipulated by the rules.
Today's debate is the third reading stage for the Bill after which it will be passed by the House of Representatives.
Features of the bill include the introduction of the electronic voting system, which the Senate has already deleted during its own debate, and the placement of higher limits on the amounts of money a candidate could spend on elections.
In the last three months, various foreign manufacturers have visited the National Assembly to display their products ahead of the upcoming 2007 general elections, in hope of being contracted by the Federal Government as suppliers of the machines.
The House Committee on Electoral Matters under the chairmanship of Hamisu Shira (Shira-Bauchi) has toured the six geo-political zones of the country to conduct public hearing sessions and collate views from the public over the proposed new electoral law.
Deputy Speaker Austin Opara, who presided over yesterday's plenary session, ruled that the debate would begin today and that all members should endeavour to participate in the making of a new Electoral Act for the federation.
The final draft to emerge from the third debate by the House will be subject to harmonisation with the Senate's draft, which would be effected by a 12-man Conference of Committees comprising six Senators and six members of the House.