Electoral Act: INEC Must Not Be Over-regulated – Governor Fayemi
…Says NASS has hidden agenda
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – The chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr Kayode Fayemi on Sunday faulted the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by federal lawmakers empowering the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Assembly to decide on the electronic transmission of election results.
Feyemi particularly said that there is the need for caution in the attempt to over-regulate the activities of an independent commission such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Ekiti governor who stated these when he appeared on a programme on Channels Television on Sunday, specifically said that the National Assembly (NASS) has a hidden agenda behind the amended electoral act empowering the NCC to decide on electronic transmission of results.
He noted that the clause empowering the NCC and the National Assembly to be the final arbiter in determining usage of electronic transmission of results for elections amounted to compromising the INEC, stressing that the issues around the electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill should have been better handled by the National Assembly.
In the words of Fayemi; “INEC should be allowed to independently determine how election results are transmitted and not be overregulated while discharging its constitutional duties. I feel that the hullabaloo around this could have been avoided.
“If I have the opportunity to be asked, I would actually argue that we leave this matter for the electoral commission to handle, rather than micromanage the electoral commission or bring in the Nigerian Communications Commission or the National Assembly to be an arbiter on what happens to electronic transmission”.
The NGF chairman also said that the decision of the National Assembly has provoked suspicion that there is a hidden agenda behind the amended Electoral Act empowering the NCC to decide on electronic transmission of election results.
He further said; “I frankly think things could have been handled differently and it is unfortunate that it has been handled the way it has been handled. It is giving an impression that there is some surreptitious or hidden agenda, which there isn’t”.
