By Nuel Suji – Move by the Senate to make the platform for Nigerian Political Party Debate a full fledge Commission failed Wednesday when major stakeholders led by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) kicked against it.
Opposition to the bill came during a public hearing session on the bill seeking for establishment of the commission.
The Senate had in October last year passed for second reading the bill titled: “Nigerian Political Debates Commission Bill, 2015, sponsored by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (APC Oyo North).
Senator Buhari had in his lead debate on the bill on the floor of the Senate last year, submitted that “If the bill is passed, those seeking election as president, governor, lawmakers and other elective positions, including their running mates, would have to go through a debate which would be organised by a proposed commission to be funded by government and headship of which to be appointed by a sitting President.
But some stakeholders of the electoral process at the public hearing session on the bill organized by the Senate’s committee on Establishment and Public Service and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) vehemently kicked against the debate platform to be made a commission funded by government and whose headship would be appointed by a sitting President.
First to kick against the Commission, was the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu who said though the Election debate platform was a welcome development for further deepening of democratic practice in the country but making such a platform to be a full fledge commission to be funded by government will be counter productive.
“The idea of a solid platform for election debate in Nigeria as it is in the United States of America and some other countries of the world is a welcome development for our democracy and electoral processes, but making such platform to be like a statutory commission would not help in achieving the motive behind the lofty idea.
“To us in INEC, such a platform should be allowed to remain in form of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that would be funded by corporate bodies in the land and managed by independent and non partisan Nigerians with outstanding character and repute”, he said.
Also the President of the Nigeria Political Science Association, Professor Sam Egwu, toed the line of the INEC chairman by stressing that the plat form for such debate should be independent and not a commission that would be funded by government, saying such a move would not only be counter-productive to the desired goal but also rubbish the electoral process.
Earlier in his speech while declaring the session open, the Senate President Bukola Saraki explained that law making is an all-encompassing process where input of stakeholders and the public is imperative.
He said the Bill if passed will enable the Nigerian electorates vote for the best desired candidates.
