TheCable

Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, is wondering why the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not concluded the rerun elections in Rivers state when it did the same around the Sambisa stronghold of Boko Haram insurgents.

Ekweremadu said this when the lawmakers were about deliberating on the petroleum industry bill (PIB), and there was no senator from Rivers to make contributions.

The three lawmakers from the state – George Sekibo (Rivers east),Olaka Wogu (Rivers southeast), and Osinakachukwu Ideozu (Rivers west) – lost their seats in December.

The appeal court had ruled that the election, which brought them into office, was fraught with irregularities, and ordered that a fresh one be conducted within 60 days.

In compliance with the directive, INEC conducted another election in February, but there was an outbreak of violence in virtually all the constituencies where the exercise held.

This made the commission to postpone the election indefinitely.

But Ekwermadu faulted the commission excuse of insecurity, and asked the chamber to deliberate on pending elections and “failure of INEC to act accordingly”.

“We are aware that INEC has conducted elections in the northeast, even in places close to Sambisa forest,” he said at plenary on Wednesday.

“This motion is out of a need for every state to be part of the government.”

Ekweremadu urged the senate to ask INEC to conduct the elections by December 10, failure of which the senate will suspend plenary pending the time the elections are conducted.

Senate President Bukola Saraki commended his deputy for raising the “very important motion”, and promised that the senate would take the necessary action.

“This is a very important motion targeted to improve our democracy we will go with the information from the INEC Committee,” he said.

“We all saw the INEC chairman during his screening, this a very challenging time for him and his organisation to prove themselves.

“The INEC chairman has given us his words and we will hold him accountable to it.”

Saraki put the question and the prayer mandating INEC to conduct all pending elections on or before December 10 to a vote, and majority of the lawmakers voted in support of it.

The development comes a day after the house of representatives deliberated on the same issue.

Leo Ogor, minority leader of the house, had moved the motion to urge INEC to conduct the rerun election.