By Bassey Udo
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, says the Senate will not be intimidated into doing what is not in the overall interest of majority of Nigerians.
Akpabio was reacting to recent criticisms by some concerned Nigerians and representatives of some civil society groups over reports that the Senate had jettisoned the proposal to include real time transmission of election results as mandatory provision in the ongoing Electoral Act Amendment Bill at the National Assembly.
Speaking in Abuja on Saturday at the public presentation of the book: “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria,” by a former Senator who represented Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District between 2003 and 2011, Senator Effiong Bob, Akpabio said despite criticisms, the lawmakers would not be dissuaded from doing what they consider right and patriotic to advance democracy in the overall interest of majority of Nigerians.
On Wednesday, the Senate was reported to have rejected the provision which would make it mandatory for real time transmission of election results in the amended Electoral Act.
Some lawmakers had accused the Senate President of manipulating the final amendment process by announcing what majority of their members did not approve.
Also, some members of civil society groups, including the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, and the Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA) Africa, Samson Itodo, both criticized the alleged attempt to manipulate the process by the Senate.
The sharp disagreement among the lawmakers had triggered serious controversies over the amendment, with most opposition politicians and civil society groups voicing their discontent over the development
But, reacting to the controversy, the Senate President said it was premature to criticize what the lawmakers have done so far over the provisions of Section 60 (3) of the Electoral Act, as the amendment process was far from complete.
Deliberations on the contents of the Electoral Reform Bill, he said, have not been concluded yet until the Votes and Proceedings were harmonised and passed by the Senate and the Conference Committee of the Senate as well as House of Representatives decided on the final copy of the Bill.
Yet, he said, people are already constituting panels on television to abuse the Senate for something that was yet to be completed.
“We have not yet completed the process. Until we look at the votes and proceedings. When we bring our the votes and proceedings, any Senator has the right to rise up to amend it.
“We cannot amend anything before we approve Votes and Proceedings. Why abuse the Senate when what we have is incomplete,” he said.
In a veiled reaction to comments made on television by Mr Nwankwo that rejecting transmission of election results in real time amounted to a betrayal of efforts of various stake, including civil society groups that participated in various retreats to ensure the process succeeded in producing what would be acceptable to all Nigerians, the Senate President said, “We will not be intimidated. We will do what is right for this country.
“Our lawmaking will reflect the feelings of the generality of Nigerians, not that of one NGO, or somebody who gets money from the European Union to carry Senators to Lagos and then ask them for their accounts and then hand over a paper to them to go and pass.
“Retreats are not lawmaking. Retreats are part of consultations. The Electoral Act amendment is not yet complete. But people are already on television setting up all sorts of panels to abuse us. They don’t understand lawmaking.
“When we bring out the votes and proceedings, any senator has a right to rise and say what clause was not agreed upon. And if those who are recording through the verbatim recorder disagree or agree, we amend it before we approve the votes and proceedings. That is the only time you can now talk about what the Senate has done or has not done.
“It’s only when we have finished with that that you will now say the National Assembly has passed any amendment to the electoral Act,” Akpabio said.
Clarifying the position of the opposition in the issue, the National Chairman of the All Democratic Congress (ADC), David Mark, who was the Chairman of the occasion, said Nigerians were not asking the Senate to do what was not possible, but to go ahead and approve the mandatory transmission of election results and allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to say it does not have the technical capacity implement it.
Earlier, while presenting the book, “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria”, Akpabio said the contents of the book captured the current travails of the lawmaker.
“The legislature bears a very heavy burden nobody wants to talk about. The burden of representation where millions of votes matter, the burden of oversight and burden of budgetary control.
“These are constitutional duties discharged under intense conditions. It is the measure of any democracy where citizens are free to express themselves.”
Mark said the burden of the legislator was multifaceted, as it is constantly under pressure by the people, other arms of government such as the executive and the judiciary as well as unfulfilled personal promises.
He explained that for lack of understanding, the populace expect the legislator to perform executive functions, pay bills, construct roads, build schools and hospitals, among others, while still functioning as legislators.
Dignitaries at the event included the Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Enoh, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Senators Lee Maeba, Bassey Ewa-Henshaw, Ita Enang, Bassey Akpan, among others.
