Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
The House of Representatives on Wednesday raised an alarm that the April general elections were in danger following the level of preparation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The House of Representatives on Wednesday raised an alarm that the April general elections were in danger following the level of preparation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Members of the House expressed fear that with the inconsistency of INEC and possible litigations that could arise from the refusal of President Olusegun Obasanjo to sign into law the amended 2004 Electoral Act, the elections were doomed.
Section 35 of the amended act reduced the number of days to display names of registered voters for any general election from 120 days to 30 days, following the inability of INEC to register eligible voters by the Direct Data Capture machines.
Speaker Aminu Bello Masari said 'as long as the bill that was amended and passed by the two chambers has not been signed into law by Mr. President, all that INEC is doing amounts to illegality and it is dangerous for the April election."
He added that going by some reports in the media, it was possible that INEC was not prepared for the April polls, adding that the real level of preparations would be known after the briefing of the chairman of committee on electoral matters, Hon Amisu Shira.
Shira had asked for time to confirm whether the date for the display of eligible candidates by INEC had been shifted forward to March 13 as alleged.
The fear expressed by Masari was reinforced by Hon Chidi Duru, from Anambra State and chairman of public petitions committee, accusing INEC of not playing by the rules guiding the conduct of a credible election.
According to him, the inconsistency arising from the screening of candidates, vis-à-vis court pronouncements and display of list of cleared candidates questioned the readiness of INEC for the election.
In another development, the House has resolved to empower the Bawa Bwari led ad-hoc committee on mass sack in the Nigeria police to conduct a full investigation on the mass purge.
The committee, in its interim report, after a meeting with the Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, noted that sacked officers bombarded it with petitions.
Although, the police boss was reported to have claimed that due process was followed in the exercise, his claim that the Police Service Commission was not in place to consider cases of officers above Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) was faulted by Masari, who said that he met with the former chairman of the commission last week.