The
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood
Yakubu, has revealed that the Commission is burdened with over 700 court cases
arising from numerous litigations on conducted elections, reports ITRealms.
The
chairman, who was speaking at the weekend at a retreat hosted by the House of
Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matter at the
Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, disclosed that INEC on weekly basis have to attend to
at an average of 12 cases.
In
doing this, he said, INEC must engage lawyers and this is a burden on the
Commission.
Prof.
Mahmood also noted that INEC’s case is not helped by the fact that it is always
joined in suits or petitions arising from elections for which it has to pay
lawyers to represent the Commission in court. According to the chief electoral
umpire, apart from the over 700 court cases it has had to appear in, the
Commission has been dragged to court a whopping 12 times in the past one week.
He
reiterated the Commission’s commitment to the conduct of credible elections, saying
that the journey to electronic voting is a gradual one which will undoubtedly pave
the needed way in strengthening the nation’s democracy.
The
retreat, which was supported by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and
the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), also
featured a review of current electoral laws in Nigeria and a status report on
amendment bills before the committee.
Participants
led by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara also has
Chairman, Senate Committee Chairman on INEC, Senator Abubakar Kyari represented
by Senator Abu Gumel; Chairperson of the House Committee on Electoral and
Political Parties Matter, Hon. Mrs. Aisha Dukku as well as other distinguished
members of the committee, equally have the chairman of Zinox Technology Group,
Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh as a keynote speaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment