Lawmaker Faults INEC Timetable, Wants Elections To Hold Same Day

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Monday, January 27th, 2014

Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Rep. Suleiman Abdurahman Kawu Sumaila (APC, Kano), has faulted the election timetable recently released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) advising that elections should hold same day.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Monday, Kawu further noted that fixing the election for same day would reduce cost and ensure credibility of the exercise.

His words: “I will want to say that drawing from our past experience in conducting elections, it will be proper to conduct all elections on the same day so as to save cost, and reduce unnecessary tension

“All the five elections can be conducted on the same day with voters given five ballot papers and five ballot boxes stationed at every polling booth.

“This will make candidates to mobilize their agents to monitor the process very well.

“The allowances to ad-hoc staff of INEC, on each of the Election Day, instead of paying two or three times of that amount, government will pay only once.”

Kawu also suggested that INEC should “move the election backward to January 2015 or November 2014 so that there will be ample time to dispose all elections litigations before swearing in.”

According to him, this will help those elected to prepare themselves very well before they roll out their programs.

The election timetable released by INEC shows that Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold first on Feb 14, 2015 while Governorship and States Assembly elections are fixed for Feb 28, 2015