Jega Reveals Why INEC Chairman Shouldn’t Be Appointed By Presidents
- Former Chairman INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega, has revealed why the Chairman of the Commission should not be appointed by the president
- Jega said if the INEC chairman is not appointed by the President it would help to free the Commission from the control of the executive
- He recommended that the screening of applicants for the position of the INEC chairman should be handled by a joint committee of the National Assembly
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Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State - A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has called for the review of the appointment of the Commission’s Chairman by the president.
Jega said the President should not be the one to appoint INEC Chairman, Daily Trust reported.
Source: Facebook
He said this is important to prevent the perception that “he who pays the piper dictates the tune”.
He stated this while speaking at a two-day retreat organised for senators by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.
Jega recommends a joint committee of National Assembly
According to Vanguard, Jega recommended a joint committee of the National Assembly that will subject the applicants/nominees for the position of INEC to public scrutiny.
He said it would help to free the Commission from control of the executive.
He said:
“Review the process of appointments into INEC, specifically to divest/minimize the involvement of the President in the appointment of Chairman and National Commissioners of INEC, in order to free the commission from the damaging negative perception of “he who pays the piper dictates the tune”.
“The Justice Uwais Committee recommended that the responsibility for advertising, screening, shortlisting and submission to the Council of State for recommendation to the Senate for confirmation hearings, for this category of officers, should be entrusted to the National Judicial Council (NJC).
“On second thought, and for obvious reasons, I will recommend a joint committee of the National Assembly be given this responsibility, with criteria, for transparency, non-partisanship and stakeholder engagement for the process. The applicants/nominees for these appointments should be subjected to public scrutiny with regard to knowledge, skills, good character and non-partisanship. Guidelines should be provided for submitting petitions against any nominee during this process.”
Jega sends important message to Zimbabwe as he leads election observer team
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Jega urged all Zimbabweans, including political party members, candidates and voters, to show their commitment to democracy and peaceful elections.
He stated this when he led an international election observation mission to Zimbabwe for their election.
INEC slams report on 2023 election
INEC maintained that it is inappropriate to rate the 2023 general elections by the number of petitions filed in courts.
INEC national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee, Sam Olumekun said INEC's attention has been drawn to a report titled, ‘INEC’s credibility sinks as 94% contested posts awaits tribunals.’
INEC explains why IReV Is not election result collation system
The INEC Director of ICT, Paul Omokore, said its results viewing portal, IReV is not a result collation system.
Omokore said the results viewing portal is to enhance election transparency.
According to Omokore, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is only used to upload pictures of PUs results on form EC8A to IReV.
Source: Legit.ng
