By Taiye Odewale
Abuja
Moves by the Senate to make the platform for Nigerian Political Party Debate a full fledged Commission was kicked against yesterday by major stakeholders led by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during a public hearing session on the bill.
The Senate had in October last year passed for second reading the bill titled: “Nigerian Political Debates Commission Bill, 2015, sponsored by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (APC, Oyo North).
Buhari had, in his lead debate on the Bill on the floor of the Senate last year, submitted: “If the bill is passed, those seeking election as president, governor, lawmakers and other elective positions, including their running mates, would have to go through a debate which would be organised by a proposed commission to be funded by government and headship of which to be appointed by a sitting President.”
However, some stakeholders of the electoral process at the public hearing session on the bill organised by the Senate’s committee on Establishment and Public Service and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) vehemently kicked against the debate platform to be made a Commission funded by government and whose headship would be appointed by a sitting President.
First to kick against the Commission was the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, who said though the Election debate platform was a welcome development for “further deepening of democratic practice in the country, but making such a platform to be a full fledged Commission to be funded by government would be counter-productive.”
“The idea of a solid platform for election debate in Nigeria as it is in the United States of America and some other countries of the world is a welcome development for our democracy and electoral processes, but making such platform to be like a statutory commission would not help in achieving the motive behind the lofty idea.
“To us in INEC, such a platform should be allowed to remain in form of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that would be funded by corporate bodies in the land and managed by independent and non partisan Nigerians with outstanding character and repute,” he said.
Also, the President of the Nigeria Political Science Association, Prof. Sam Egwu, toed the line of the INEC chairman by stressing that the plat form for such debate should be independent and not a commission that would be funded by government, saying such a move would not only be counter-productive to the desired goal but also rubbish the electoral process.
Earlier, while declaring the session open, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, explained that law making was an all-encompassing process where inputs of stakeholders and the public were imperative.
He said the Bill, “if passed, will enable the Nigerian electorate to vote for the best candidates.”
