The Senate, on Wednesday,  raised the alarm over pending senatorial rerun elections in six out of the 109 senatorial districts across the country.

This followed a Point of Order raised by Senator Ben Murray-Bruce (PDP, Bayelsa East) during the plenary, stating  that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) owed the upper chamber explanations on why the pending rerun elections had not been conducted.

He noted that the non-representation of some states in the Senate violated Section 48 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which stated that: “The Senate shall consist of three senators from each state and one from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

The lawmaker asked the Senate to take up the issue with the INEC chairman, Professor  Mahmmud Yaqub, that the people of the affected areas which were,  Kogi East, Anambra Central, Imo North, Rivers East, Rivers West and Rivers South-East had constitutional right to be represented in the Senate.

According to him, “We have not had representation in this chamber from Rivers State, part of Anambra, Imo, Kogi and some other states. INEC concluded elections in one week in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but in these states, they have no representation here and it does not make any sense.

“It is a violation of the constitution; the people of these states have a right to have representation here. The INEC chairman owes us an explanation on  why these elections have not been concluded”

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided, explained that he was aware that INEC would meet to fix dates for the elections on Thursday.

He said: “It is clear in the constitution that INEC should quickly conduct, within 30 days, bye-elections where vacancies exist and so it is far past 30 days when vacancies existed in some places. It is important that we urge INEC to ensure that these elections are conducted as soon as possible so that every part of the country, every state will have their full representation in the National Assembly.”

It will be recalled that on Tuesday, this week, people from Imo North senatorial district staged a protest at the National Assembly to call attention to the delay in conducting the rerun election of the senatorial district by INEC.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Electoral Commission ((INEC), Professor Mahmud Yakubu, on Wednesday, explained the rationale behind the numbers of inconclusive elections conducted by the commission in some of the parts of the country in the recent time.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday, Professor Yakubu stated that the commission, in declaring such elections inconclusive, followed due process in line with “the electoral Act, the INEC guidelines and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

He explained that the fact that the elections were declared inconclusive should not be seen as if the commission was not competent to conduct free,fair and credible elections, but be considered as an improvement to what it used to be, and as well a sign that elections were getting better in Nigeria.

According to him: “To me INEC has done nothing wrong in the eye of the law, but has only strived to improve on the conduct of transparent  elections where the votes of the electorate will count.”

“Nigerians have been praying for the day our votes will count today, I am very happy to say that vote counts and that elections have now become more competitive.

“Secondly, Nigerians have been praying for a day when we would have two strong political parties and now we have two strong political, parties and there are others that are equally coming on strong and winning in areas where they have never won before.

“From all indications, elections are becoming very competitive and  the margin of victory are very tight in recent elections, most of the rerun elections conducted under my  leadership  has been keenly contested for.”

“Election in Nigeria is becoming better and votes are now counting. For instance, there used to be one strong political party that always win elections, but now, there are two strong parties.”

“Take the case of Kogi, for instance, in the last governorship election, two strong political parties and  candidates, a former governor and an incumbent governor, in Bayelsa State, two strong parties, two strong candidates, a former governor and an incumbent governor and the same scenario played out also in Rivers state where a former governor and an incumbent governor were the main actors even though they were not candidates in the elections.”

Tribune……

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