Iwu wants power to sack candidates

Written by Duncan Wednesday, 14 October 2009

He said, “We should be able to have the powers to look at people who want to vie for political offices and determine who is qualified to contest.”

Iwu’s request seeks to overturn  the 2007 judgment of the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the then Vice President and Action Congress [AC] presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar that INEC does  not have the power to disqualify candidates in an election.

Iwu also told the senators that he opposed the Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais constitutional review panel’s recommendations on the mode of appointment of INEC’s chairman and commissioners. He said, “The Ghana electoral chief you invited is not appointed by the president and the parliament does not approve the appointment. Is that an example we want to follow? Nigeria has the most rigid mode of appointment of its electoral officers because three agencies have to screen them and their names must be forwarded to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) where they could be dropped and thereafter they will be sent to the Senate for confirmation. Therefore I am opposed to any alteration to the status quo.”

He also opposed the Uwais panel’s recommendations on the establishment of a Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission, saying party registration is one of the least demanding functions performed by INEC.  Iwu similarly opposed proposals to scrap the State Independent Electoral Commissions [SIECs]. He said, “We should not sacrifice our federation because so long as federalism is in place then state electoral commissions must exist.”

He said “the fundamental difficulties of the electoral process in Nigeria can be located in the attitude of individuals and groups as well as in certain unwholesome practices which have over the time become almost a part of Nigeria’s political culture.”

In his presentation, Police Inspector General Mr. Ogbonna Onovo said the Police should be given the necessary logistics and welfare to provide adequate security during elections.

The national public hearing is expected to end tomorrow and the committee will hold zonal public hearings between 19th to 20th November in the six geo-political zones of the country.