Politics
Yakubu Advocates Community Partnership Over INEC Facilities
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the spate of arson and vandalism of its facilities and property was worrisome as it would adversely affect its commitment to continually improve on the electoral process.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this at a meeting of Resident Electoral Commissioners in the 36 states and the FCT, held on Wednesday, in Abuja.
Yakubu said the attacks had been on the rise since the 2019 General Elections, but had now developed into a crisis.
He said in the last three weeks or so, INEC local government offices in Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom , Ohafia in Abia and Udenu in Enugu State, were set ablaze by unidentified persons.
He added that on May 16, INEC state office in Enugu suffered yet another arson and vandalism in which parts of the building were ransacked and several vehicles razed, while more of INEC facilities were being systematically targeted and attacked.
“Just last night, Tuesday, May 18, two more offices in Ebonyi, including Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi, were burnt down.
“ Although there were no casualties, the damage to the physical infrastructure and electoral materials was total. Nothing has been salvaged from ballot boxes and voting cubicles to generating sets, office furniture and equipment.
“Surely, these attacks are no longer freak events but appear to be quite orchestrated and targeted at INEC.
“Clearly, these are acts of unjustifiable aggression which may undermine the commission’s capacity to organise elections and dent the nation’s electoral process.
“The facilities of the commission are there to serve the local communities for the most fundamental aspect of democratic governance, which is elections.
“ Therefore, targeting such important national asset and repositories of electoral materials that took time and enormous resources to procure cannot be justified.
“Replacing these facilities in the prevailing economic circumstances will indeed be a tall order, thereby adversely affecting electoral services in the same communities.
“These facilities are not only limited to voting but also used for other critical electoral activities such as voter registration, coordination of stakeholder engagements, voter education and sensitisation.”
Yakubu said the commission would certainly work with security agencies to deal with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes according to the law, on which INEC would hold a meeting with all security agencies on Monday May 24.
Yakubu, however, urged all and sundry, particularly communities where INEC assets were located, to see themselves as owners and custodians of those facilities and assist the commission in protecting them.
He expressed delight that some of the communities were already doing so, as they shared with INEC, the commitment of improving electoral services to Nigerians.
“ They have, over the years, supported the commission during all electoral activities from Continuous Voter Registration to the conduct of polls.
“Some of them actually donated the land on which some of our local government offices are built.
“ Even in the recent events of arson and vandalism, many of them have demonstrated exceptional willingness to support the commission.
“For instance, following the vandalism on our offices in Osun during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, the Ikirun community in Ifelodun Local Government Area and two communities in Ede South Local Government Area offered to contribute to the repairs of the offices and promised to work with the commission to protect them in future.
“Also, in Nnewi North in Anambra, the community also offered to repair our local government office destroyed during the #EndSARS protests.
“The commission do not take such partnerships for granted. I wish to thank our host communities in all parts of the country and appeal to them to continue to see INEC property as both national and local assets to be protected,” Yakubu said.
The INEC chairman said that in the light of the current circumstances, today’s meeting with RECs would take briefings from across the country on threats to INEC facilities and deliberate on how best to protect them.
Yakubu expressed the belief that INEC could dig deep and draw from its longstanding partnership with communities protecting it facilities, in addition to depending on the invaluable support of security agencies.
“Consequently, the challenges posed by these threats notwithstanding, we are still positive that we can find lasting solutions to the spate of attacks on our facilities.
“However, this must be done quickly to forestall disruptions to several upcoming electoral activities, particularly the CVR exercise which we plan to undertake continuously in 2,673 centres nationwide for a period of over one year, involving thousands of INEC officials supported by security personnel.”
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.