As 2019 elections draws closer, the Nigerian Senate has made moves to amend the existing electoral law, Electoral Act 2010.
The Senate on Thursday, March 30, passed the bill for the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010.
The amendments were part of the recommendations in the report by the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission on ‘A bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act No. 6, 2010 and for other related matters (SB 231 and SB 234)’.
The report on the amendment was presented by Abubakar Kyari, who stood in for the chairman of the INEC committee, Ali Ndume, who is on a six-month suspension.
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NAIJ.com brings you some of the amendments made.
1. The upper chamber approved electronic voting. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been empowered to use electronic voting for conduct and transmission of results in future elections.
2. The electoral commission can use other voting methods if it is impracticable to use e-voting in any election.
3. The use of smart card readers introduced by INEC in the 2015 general elections as a means of accrediting a voter has been legalized.
4. The bill gives statutory backing to INEC’s newly unveiled electronic result and transmission system which will enable the electoral commission transmit the result of elections electronically in an encrypted and secured manner to prevent hacking. The aim is to eliminate manual collation of results in the electoral process.
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5. In the case of death of a governorship candidate in the course of the election, INEC can suspend exercise for 21 days and the political party that suffers loss of candidate will be allowed to conduct a fresh primary to replace the deceased. Any new candidate from the fresh primary is to inherit the votes already garnered by the deceased on behalf of the party. This is to avoid situations such as that experienced in Kogi with Audu's death in November 2015.
6. Under the bill, a limit has been placed at what political parties can charge their members for nomination forms for different political offices. The sale of forms for the presidency has been capped at N10 million.
7. Any INEC official found to be members of a political party will be punished. The punishment is a five year jail term or N5, 000,000.00 fine or both.
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There has been a face-off between the presidency and the Senate for sometime. The upper chamber has refused to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and has threatened to confirm the list of Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).
Meanwhile, a former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chekwas Okorie, has said the rift between the Nigerian Senate and the presidency is an indirect impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The president has set up a committee to settle the rift between the executive and legislative arm of government.
In the NAIJ.com video below, the young man laments about the corruption and dishonesty of Nigerian political leaders. He said a mas burial should be held for Nigerian leaders.
