Election Date: NASS moves to amend Constitution, Electoral Act
- Details
- Category: Politics
- Published on Thursday, 23 September 2010 08:13
- Written by Tribune
- Hits: 974
THE National Assembly has started fresh moves to amend the contentious aspects of the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010. A meeting to that effect is to be held on Monday, a day ahead of the Senate’s resumption from a two-month break.
Sources in the National Assembly confirmed that the presidency had earlier in the week reminded the leadership of the National Assembly of an agreement it reached with them on the need to amend sections of the Electoral Act.
It was confirmed that the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, had also been talking on the way forward.
Their deputies, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (Senate) and Honourable Bayero Nafada (House), who headed the committees on constitutional amendment in the two chambers, were also said to have opened discussions on the need to further amend the constitution and the Electoral Act 2010.
A statement by the office of the Deputy Senate President, on Wednesday, confirmed that the meeting of the two chambers would be held.
The statement by Paul Odenyi, Special Adviser to the Deputy Senate President read: “A joint meeting of both the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Constitutional Review has been scheduled for Monday, September 27, 2010.
“The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Review (SCRC), said the meeting would deliberate on the request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the postponement of the commencement of timelines for next year’s general election.
The chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, have been invited to the meeting.
The meeting starts at 2.00 p.m. and will take place at the Senate Hearing Room 1, White House, National Assembly Complex.
There are 44 members on each of the two committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
