ABUJA — THE Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr Abel Guobadia canvassed yesterday a constitutional amendment to the Electoral Act that will give the electoral body true independence.
Declaring open a seminar on “INEC and the ELECTORAL PROCESS” organized by the Federal Capital Territory, INEC, in Abuja, Guobadia said such an amendment will not only engender the confidence of the electorate in the body, but also free it from manipulation by the party in power.
According to him, “From the national and state seminars, workshops and consultations so far held, there appears to be a consensus on key areas of the process needing urgent attention. This includes an overhaul of the constitutional and legal framework to further ensure and guarantee the independence of the commission, thus building public confidence in it as a central institution of democratic governance, and one which is not susceptible to manipulation or interference by the party in power,” he said.
Areas requiring attention in the event of a constitutional amendment, according to the INEC helmsman includes, the processes of appointment of the commission’s chairman, secretary, funding, recruitment, training and conduct of ad-hoc staff.
“This will necessitate amending the constitution so as to establish a new mechanism for the appointment and tenure of the chairman, commissioners and secretary, and making its funding a first line charge, and inserting a clause similar to that in the INEC Act, which makes the commission not subject to the control or authority of any person or institution in the discharge of its functions.”
He added: “Other areas identified as worthy of our consideration with a view to reforming is the recruitment, training and conduct of our ad-hoc staff, the management of our logistics — from identifying our needs, to sourcing them, placing orders and obtaining necessary finance, and storage, distribution, tracking and retrieval of all sensitive and non-sensitive materials to and from polling centers.”
In his remarks, FCT Minister Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who was guest of honour commended the FCT INEC for conducting free and fair local government elections.
According to him, “a cursory look at the last area council elections in FCT makes us beat our chest, that we did very well. We in the FCT are a very democratic people. FCT is the only place in the whole federation adjudged to have conducted a free and fair elections, going by the results released by the Independent Electoral Commission.”
