Also, the House of Representatives has passed the second amendment to the 1999 Constitution.
INEC earlier this month, forwarded a bill to the National Assembly seeking an amendment to the constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 so as to allow for new time lines for the conduct of next general elections.
The Senate yesterday voted on the report of the committee on amendment of the 1999 constitution headed by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. One of the areas of amendment endorsed by the chamber is section 76 of the 1999 constitution which stipulates that elections to each House of the National Assembly shall not be held earlier than 150 days and not later than 120 days before the date on which the House stands dissolved or where the election is to fill a vacancy occurring more than 90 days before such date, not later than 30 days after the vacancy occurred.
The amendment effected by the Senate reads; (1)‘’Elections to each House of the National Assembly shall be held on a date to be appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission in accordance with the Electoral Act’’.
(2) The date mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall not be earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the date on which the House stands dissolved or where the election is to fill a vacancy occurring more than 90 days before such date , not later than 30 days after the vacancy occurred’’.
The Senate also passed the same time lines for elections into state Houses of Assembly which is in section 116 of the constitution.
Other areas of the recommendations, which were passed by the chamber include sections 233, 239, 285 including a new clause which allows the Supreme Court to entertain cases arising from governorship elections.
Earlier, the chairman of the constitution review committee, Ekweremadu had said that apart from the time line, “the bill also seeks to address the process of adjudication of election petitions with regards to governorship elections, and with this amendment, there will be a reinstatement of governorship election tribunal which the first amendment abrogated,” adding “appeals will go to the Court of Appeal from this tribunal, any party not satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal may further appeal to the Supreme Court.”
On all the recommendations, the Senate was able to have more than two-thirds required by the rules and the Constitution.
After the voting, Senate President, David Mark said: “We must learn to accept loss in elections where it happens. Losers must learn to accept loss in a gallant fight and that will reduce petitions.”
Prior to its passage yesterday, a report of the special ad-hoc committee led by the Deputy Speaker, Usman Bayaro Nafada for the review of the Constitution presented last Tuesday was considered in the House’s Committee of the whole, and was consequently adopted preparatory to the clause by clause voting.
While the passage of a constitutional amendment Bill required 2/3 (240 members) majority to become valid, 276 members out of the 360 members of the House were available to cast their votes.
The six-clause Bill, each of which was subjected to voice votes as the electronic voting machine in the chamber was reported to be faulty, had only the clause on its citation opposed by a lawmaker, Sani Abdul. However, no explanations were given for his dissenting vote.
The amendment Bill which scaled second reading on the floor of the House last Thursday had in response to INEC’s request for time extension, provided for elections to be held not earlier than 90 days and not later than 30 days to the end of the subsisting tenure, as against the not earlier than 150 days, and not later than 120 days as earlier contained in the first amended Act.
The proposed amendment was meant to alter sections 5, 10, 11 and 17 of the principal Act, the 1999 Constitution as amended, with regards to the timing of the general elections.
Meanwhile, a Bill seeking to establish a volunteer service in the country was opposed by the House.
Sponsored by Sadiq Asema Mohammed, members observed during debate on the general principle of the Bill that volunteerism had no basis to be legislated upon, citing the Red Cross Society, the Boys Scout and similar organisations, which have been in existence for decades, but were not backed by any legislation.
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