[attachimg=1] INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has rejected a secret talk on INEC's alleged partial role in party primaries with the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives' Joint Committee on Justice and Electoral Matters investigating the alleged partial role of INEC in the conduct of primaries as well as selective application of court orders at a meeting yesterday asked INEC commissioners and officials led by Jega to allow specific cases relating to the allegation to be discussed at a technical session to be held behind closed doors.
But Jega was quick in rejecting the proposal, arguing that since the motion containing the allegation against INEC was made in public, it would not be proper to restrict the response of the commission to a closed-door discussion.
He said: "The motion that was passed by the House on this matter was done in public and allegations of preferential treatment were made. So, we will prefer that if there are specific cases, they should be mentioned publicly now so that we can clarify them. We want to be given an opportunity in public to clear them."
But the lawmakers, including the sponsor of the motion, Ehiogie West-Idahosa, who was also seated, simply kept mute as Jega repeatedly opposed the idea of debating the allegation in secret session with the committee.
He explained that INEC had no choice but to ignore some court orders because such orders were issued after the commission was already in compliance with an existing order issued by courts of co-ordinate jurisdictions.
Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Henry Seriake-Dickson, who muted the idea of the closed-door session, had declared that the meeting was merely an interactive session as opposed to the investigation sought by the motion.
According to him, it would be better for Jega to be allowed to make his preliminary remarks in public and later make his responses on specific allegations in a technical session to be conducted behind closed doors.
The idea was immediately endorsed by all members of the committee.
In his own remarks, Chairman, House Committee on Electoral Matters, Sarki Adar, lamented the series of court cases that trailed the conduct of party primaries and the nomination process, stressing that Nigeria's democracy could be endangered if the trend continued.
"We prayed that the scenario that led to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election is not re-enacted by the sponsors of those ex-parte injunctions," Adar added.
Jega had informed the committee that there were over 300 court cases on the party primaries in which INEC was joined.
He equally said that over 70 ex-parte orders were served on INEC over the matter.
Following the adoption of a motion sponsored by West-Idahosa, the House had invited INEC for questioning over its alleged partial roles in the just-concluded party primaries.
The House directed its committees on Justice and Electoral Matters to investigate the alleged persistent failure of the commission to comply with court orders and judgments.
Source: Jega rejects secret session with lawmakers over INEC's alleged role in parties' primaries (http://ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41911:jega-rejects-secret-session-with-lawmakers-over-inecs-alleged-role-in-parties-primaries-&catid=1:national&Itemid=559)