Against the position of the Committee on Political Parties and Electoral Matters that the 2015 general elections into all elective offices at the states and federal levels should be held in one day, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega has told the committee that it would be a herculean task to carry out such a mission.
According to the INEC boss, as the agency was currently constituted, it would be impossible to hold all the elections in one day and added that the agency was seriously overburdened.
The committee on Political Parties and Electoral Matters has recommended that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should conduct elections into all elective offices at the state and federal level on the same day.
A member of the committee and former national president of the Nigeria Union Journalists, Mallam Sani Zoro, explained the committee arrived at the decision after careful study of the staggered elections in the country.
He also disclosed that the committee has also prescribed electronic voting to replace manual voting.
On the demand in some quarters for mid-term election as practiced in the United States of America, Mallan Zoro said the committee jettisoned the idea as it might distort INEC’s preparations for the 2015 election.
He further declared that the committee has recommended that all elected public office holders must quit office the day they complete their tenure if there is a case challenging their return to the same office in the election tribunal.
Jega who stated that he subscribed fully to the Uwais Report on electoral reforms told the committee that INEC is overburdened adding that
unbundling of some of the agency’s responsibilities would greatly help.
According to him, separate bodies set up to deal with registration of political parties, prosecution of electoral offenders and possibly handling of the politically controversial constituency delineation would greatly free the agency to focus on its core responsibilities.
He also said the legal unit of the agency lacked the capacity and resources to effectively handle election related cases adding that its approaches to the NBA for assistance founder on lack of funds.