By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, has compared the decision of the Senate in subjecting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) before it can transmit results of election as similar to making the election body a subsidiary of the telecommunication regulator. .
Odinkalu, a human rights activist, says the decision of the Senate is a confirmation that INEC is not independent.
In a tweet, he says: “After the events of yesterday (passing of the electoral amendment bill), it has to be very clear if it wasn’t long before now: @inecnigeria (INEC) is now a fully owned subsidiary of @NgComCommission (NCC) & of @nassnigeria (National Assembly). If u don’t like it, pls let @DrAhmadLawan & @femigbaja hear from you.”
The Senate yesterday passed the amended Electoral Bill with. a provision that deprived INEC the power to make the decision on transmitting the results of an election electronically. Rather, the senators gave the National Assembly and the NCC that authority.
A former spokesman of INEC and lawyer, Oluwole Osaze Uzzi, said the Senate’s decision was reckless and unconstitutional. He argued that INEC is a body created by the constitution with the defined constitutional responsibility of conducting elections. He said it would be illegal for the National Assembly and NCC to determine for INEC when it can transmit results of election electronically
