Efio-Ita Nyok|26 July 2017
The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Tuesday, in a 33rd item of the report presented by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu on the bill to amend the 1999 Constitution voted to strip State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC) of the powers to conduct LG elections NegroidHaven can authoritatively inform.
This alteration is part of constitutional reforms by the National Assembly to make local governments become independent of states. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be saddled with the responsibility of conducting LG polls.
While Mr. Ekweremadu’s report originally had 32 items, including autonomy for local government areas it was Dino Melaye, APC-Kogi, who opined that allowing states to oversee conduct of local government elections make a mess of the call for autonomy. Rather, Mr. Melaye moved a motion which contains that INEC should conduct the local elections.
His words, 'How do we speak of local government autonomy, without addressing the foundation,' argued Mr. Melaye, in seeking states to be stripped of the power to constitute state electoral commissions to conduct local government elections.
Mr. Melaye’s motion was unanimously adopted by his colleagues when put to voice vote called by Senate President Bukola Saraki.
With this development Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC)'s fate has been sealed. Or, maybe the rigging just got more dear!(just my thoughts anyways).
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor & Publisher of NegroidHaven
