BY Henry Umoru
ABUJA — CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator Andy Uba, PDP, Anambra South, has said if the commission must carry out the prosecution of one million suspects for electoral offences, there was the need for holistic electoral reforms to be carried out.

He also said Nigeria was not yet ripe for diaspora voting unless there was a total change of attitude among Nigerians, strong sensitisation and a near accurate data base to ascertain the number of Nigerians outside the country and those eligible to vote, adding that the nation’s embassies and missions must be overhauled and put in good shape.

Answering questions from journalists, weekend, in Abuja, the former aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo who asked if Nigeria had the prisons to accommodate and facilities to take care of the suspects before such a prosecution could be carried out by INEC, also requested to know if the courts had the capacity and wherewithal to cope with volume of cases.

He said: “Well, it is still an issue which I said was part of the electoral reforms we must carry out. First, do we have the prisons that can accommodate one million offenders in the country?  Secondly, does INEC have the capacity to prosecute all these electoral offenders?

“Can our conventional courts cope with the volume of the cases? A lot of questions are begging for answers. We need to put some things right before we can embark on that. Hence, the need for the holistic electoral reforms that will cater for all these. ‘’

When asked on diaspora voting, Senator Uba said ‘’if we have the political will and change of attitude, it is possible, but we need to put necessary things in place like enabling laws, sensitization of Nigerians abroad, have a near accurate data base for our diaspora, put our missions and embassies in good shape, clean up and update our voters’ register among other things, before we can take a short at it. Smaller country in ECOWAS sub region tried it during their election this year.”

Senator Uba, who urged INEC to embark on continuous voters’ register if almost all eligible voters must be captured, said, ‘’we have INEC offices in all the 774 LGAs. Once you are 18, it is expected that you go there and register. INEC needs to put the structure in place for continuous voters register, while the permanent voters card production and issuance should have been completed before any other general election. INEC again can collaborate with other agencies saddled with national ID card scheme.”

On his agenda as a member of the 7th Senate Senate, he said ‘’my legislative agenda is three fold. One, to my senatorial district, Anambra South, and my state in general. Two, as committee chair on INEC, I have planned series of electoral reforms now that we are planning to review the constitution and through oversight and lastly, to key into the overall agenda of the senate to make laws for the good governance of the country.”

On his experience when the Court of Appeal quashed his election in December 2011 and ordered a rerun, Senator Uba said ‘it was not a nice one, as one had to go through the rigours of campaign and its election expenses.

“But as someone who believes in the rule of law, I went through the election and won again, though I faulted the judgment by petitioning the national judicial council asking for a retrial, as the court then granted what was not demanded for by the petitioners.”

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on Apr 23 2012. Filed under Legislature, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry