Daily Independent (Lagos)
Emmanuel Nzomiwu
6 July 2009
Chairman of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitutional Review (JCCR) and Deputy Senate President (DSP), Ike Ekweremadu, has disclosed that current efforts to review the 1999 Constitution would address the issue of time limit for election petitions.
Ekwremadu, who spoke to journalists at the weekend in Enugu, said that his committee intended exploring the provisions of the Electoral Act in the 1979 era, that prescribed time limit of three months for conclusion of election matters.
He stated that the Electoral Act 2006 could not address the issue because the team that worked on it, which he was privileged to be part of, was confronted by a Supreme Court position that one cannot deter the court in terms of timing for delivering judgment.
The Senate number two man explained that the Supreme Court believes that for the purposes of fair hearing, there should be unlimited time for the court to conclude cases. "I was part of the team that worked on the 2006 Electoral Act. And when we came to the point of giving time frame to conclude election matters, we were confronted by the Supreme Court position that one cannot deter the court in terms of timing for delivering judgment.
"They (Supreme Court) believe that for the purposes of fair hearing, there should be unlimited time for court to conclude cases. But I am also aware that in 1979, there was a provision in Electoral Act of that time limiting time frame for conclusion of election matters. So, we intend to explore that option." Ekweremadu said.
In spite of earlier disagreement between the Senate and the House of Representatives over the leadership of the JCCR, he assured that the Senate was going to carry the Lower House along in the constitutional review in the interest of the nation.
Speaking on the demand by senators for automatic tickets back to the Senate, Ekweremadu explained that the senators were misrepresented, saying that they were actually trying to copy the best practices in the world.
He said, "In America where we drew the bulk of the provisions of our constitution, you don't just change parliamentarians. You don't change parliamentarians all the time because a lot is spent on training these people. And when you send people to seminars, trainings, workshops and they sit in parliament from year to year and at the end of the day, they don't return, those monies are wasted.
"So, we are thinking that as much as possible, as much as our system can accommodate that we reverse this trend. A situation where about 80 per cent of our senators don't return is not healthy for our system. If we can turn it the other way and say, let 20 per cent not return, let 80 per cent return, I think that is path of growth.
"When making the1999 Constitution, our leaders thought it wise to say in parliament, there is no time limit, you contest and win and then come back to parliament as many times as you can, I think they were not stupid because they knew the implication," Ekweremadu stated.
"They knew how much is invested in training these people. They knew the need to have parliamentarians stay much longer in parliament because it creates what is called institutional memory because being a senator for 20 years or 30 years, you would have seen Presidents come and go, so, if an issue arises in the country that requires institutional memory, you have to fall back on people and that is what our mates have thought so,"
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