...Seeks Abolition Of State Electoral Commission
By Our Reporter
As the National Assembly resumes plenary to debate on the electoral act, the Labour Party (LP), has called for a provision granting full autonomy to the Local Government Councils in Nigeria.
Labour Party therefore warned that any amendment that fails to give full autonomy to local government councils and abolishes state independent electoral commission will only serve the political elite to exclusion of the rest of Nigerians.
The party further stated that the planned amendment should also not grant the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC ) the responsibility to conduct local government elections in the country.
These positions were canvassed by the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure in a chat with newsmen in Abuja on Monday.
Julius urged be nation's lawmakers to wear the garment of patriotism and take hold of the momentous opportunity of the ongoing amendment to reflect the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.
The party scribe noted that the two weeks vacation embarked upon by the National Assembly purposely for the membership revalidation of a political party at a time there was pandemonium and outcries over insecurity in the country especially in the South West and South Eastern regions was unfortunate.
He, however, puts forward some other recommendations to be considered during the amendment and they include an amendment that will legitimise the use of technology in the electoral system; that will ease the participation of the visually impaired persons and other persons living with disabilities in the electoral process as well as enhance youth participation amongst others.
He said: "As previously stated a viable, dependable and a credible electoral process is a panacea for growth and development in Nigeria. This is particularly so since it will create the ambience and enabling environment for patriotic, intelligent, result oriented Nigerians to emerge as leaders of the country. At the moment Nigeria needs such leadership in order to confront the plethora of problems confronting the Nation. The country must be repositioned for service delivery to its citizens.
"This underscores the importance for us as a country to embark on a comprehensive reforms of our electoral process which must begin by the the amendment of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Electoral Act.
"Accordingly, we call all members of the National Assembly to wear the garment of patriotism and to for once take hold of the momentous opportunity of the ongoing amendment to reflect the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
"However, any amendment which does not make provision for the underlisted is an amendment only for the political elite in Nigeria. They are:
"The Constitution and the Electoral Act must be amended to give full autonomy to Local Government Councils. State independent Electoral Commission should be abolished and INEC given the responsibility to conduct Local Government Elections in the country. This will remove local councils from the claws, cleavages and prevent State Governors from appointing their Stooges as officials of LGA. The state joint account must be abolished. This is without prejudice to what Mr President has done in the recent past to ensure that funds are released directly from the federation account to all LGAs in Nigeria
"An amendment that will legitimise the use of technology in the electoral system to wit; voters are electronically accredited which will confirm, authenticate and verify a voter; polling unit election results are published and electronically transmitted to INEC Website and other platforms and made accessible to members of the public; give INEC the power to adopt electronic voting and electronic collation and transmission of election results. This will reduce the huge cost of logistics, saves time and energy currently spent on election materials.
"Reflect amendments that will ease the participation of the visually impaired persons and other persons living with disabilities in the electoral process.
"Insert novel and incisive provisions that will remove all disabilities and enhance the participation of Youths in the electoral process.
"Make deliberate provisions to enhance the participation of women in the electoral process.
"Insert provisions that will aid the prosecution of electoral offenders and discourage vote buying. INEC should be relieved of the burden of preventing, investigating and prosecuting electoral Electoral offences."
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