Daily Independent (Lagos)
Chesa Chesa
13 May 2009
Abuja — President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday defended his insistence on appointing the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying it would be improper and against the spirit of the principle of separation of powers for the Executive to transfer such function to the Judiciary.
Allowing the National Judicial Council (NJC) to nominate or appoint INEC chairman, he added, would amount to dragging the Judiciary into politics.
Yar'Adua spoke at his first media briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He argued that "what matters is not who appoints INEC chairman but the integrity and capability of who is so appointed".
While admitting that electoral reforms could not be done overnight, the President stressed that the six bills he sent to the National Assembly marked the first major step, especially as majority of the recommendations of the Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms dwelt on matters that require legislative amendments.
He noted that, out of the 83 recommendations made by the Uwais panel, government accepted 73 and rejected 10, insisting that nowhere in the world does a government merely rubberstamp recommendations of such a committee.
Yar'Adua also explained why the country has been experiencing fuel scarcity, saying that major oil marketers have been sabotaging the government because of its intention to curb corruption through deregulation.
He, however, assured that the scarcity would end in the next two weeks, because, according to him, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is about bridging the gap caused by the refusal of the marketers to import their 40 per cent quota of refined petroleum products.
Yar'Adua said the marketers were opposed to government's deregulation policy and are bent on sabotaging it, but assured that measures are being put in place to address the problem in a matter of weeks.
"We have an issue with the marketers, they don't want deregulation. That government is even looking at it, they are not happy.
"They normally import about 40 per cent and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) imports the balance of 60 per cent and the stoppage of this importation has produced supply gap which is being addressed now.
"I am sure the NNPC and the authorities are on top of the situation.
"We are also talking with the marketers. Our last meeting with the marketers was last Friday and measures are being taken and I have confidence with all that is put before me that within the next two weeks, the situation will be brought back to normal," Yar'Adua added.
Yar'Adua also took questions on the Halliburton bribery scandal, reiterating his pledge to expose and prosecute the Nigerian bribe takers as soon as he confirms their identities and other details of their involvement from the United States government.
He also noted that "in the Halliburton case, we need to have cooperation from nations, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland and we have taken a most critical step by writing to the US and to their attorneys general based on our treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance for them to provide for us all the evidence against any Nigerian that they have uncovered during their investigation, all the evidence, including proceedings during the prosecution of those Americans".
On the Ekiti re-run poll that was marred by violence and alleged corruption, the President said the experience was a reminder of the urgent need for political reforms to be put in place.
He, however, put the blame for the Ekiti saga on desperate politicians who start out planning to win elections at all cost without imagining they could lose at the polls.
He said he had directed security agencies to thoroughly investigate the violence, crime, corruption and poll rigging that took place in the Ekiti re-run.
This is with a view to prosecuting suspected perpetrators of the acts while the proposed Electoral Offences Commission is expected to take care of such matters in future.
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