2019 Election may not Hold - Senate reveals

The Senate yesterday expressed the fear that the 2019 general elections may suffer serious hitches. Its apprehension was born out of what it considered as critical issues of illegitimacy bedeviling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

With the absence of Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in 20 of the 36 states, the Senate noted that the INEC cannot conduct any legitimate election at the moment.

Adopting a motion sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, the upper chamber observed that the non-appointment of RECs to fill the 20 vacancies is in breach of Section 14 (2) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The senators called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately nominate suitably qualified persons to fill the vacant positions in line with the constitution to enhance the capacity of the electoral commission to conduct conclusive polls. They further called on INEC to immediately conclude all pending elections in the country. The lawmakers mandated the Committee on INEC to hold a public hearing to review the performance of the commission in the last one year with a view to ascertaining the factors that may have caused the perceived “decline of the electoral system.”

In his concluding remarks, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki urged INEC to conclude elections in the affected constituencies. “Buhari should ensure that those vacant positions are filled,” he said.

While explaining what inconclusive elections portend for the nation’s democracy, Ekweremadu said the whimsical postponement of polls is a wrong signal that cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

The lawmaker from Enugu State noted that the trend of inconclusive elections had left both chambers of the National Assembly and some state houses of assembly without the full complement of their membership, while millions of Nigerians are left without representatives for a long period of time.