The Federal Government is on the verge of setting up a 20-member committee to review the extant electoral laws and past reports on electoral reforms.
The committee, to be constituted and inaugurated by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, will also be tasked with revisiting the report of the Justice Muhammad Uwais National Electoral Committee.
Submitted on December 11, 2008, the Uwais panel recommended the establishment of commissions to deal with electoral offences, constituency delimitation and political parties’ registration and regulation.
Punch reports that five of the proposed members of the committee would be nominated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) once the necessary logistics are sorted.
“The proposal is just waiting for the final directive of the AGF,” Special Adviser to the AGF on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, stated.
Documents obtained from another source indicated that the panel would be given 16 weeks to “review the electoral environment, laws and experiences from recent elections conducted in Nigeria and make recommendations to strengthen and achieve the conduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria”, Punch further writes.
The proposed committee would also be expected to review conflicting court judgments on legal disputes on past elections, and “recommend the best approach to effective prosecution of electoral offences.”
INEC’s Deputy Director, Publicity and Voter Education, Mr. Nick Dazang, said though he was not aware of the proposed committee, the move was consistent with their efforts to consolidate on the strides of the immediate past chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
“I’m not surprised if it has reached this stage of setting up a committee. Even though officially, I’m not aware of it, that will be a culmination of the efforts that the commission has begun before now,” he said.
“It is a welcome development and INEC will embrace the idea with two hands because it is in our interest to have the laws reviewed and the electoral offences commission and tribunal established so that the impunity that we see during election is checked.”
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