The administration of President Umaru Yar'adua is not serious about amending the 1999 Constitution in order to reform this country's problematic electoral system, leading opposition politicians General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Secretary to the Federal Government Chief Olu Falae separately said in Abuja yesterday. They spoke at the national public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution. They cited the administration's jettisoning of some aspects of the Uwais panel report on electoral reform to support their contention.

Briefing newsmen shortly after attending the session, General Buhari also said he is not sure that the lawmakers can amend the present electoral system. "I can't be certain of anything in Nigeria now. I will just wait and see," he said.

In his presentation read by his Action Congress [AC] running mate in the 2007 presidential election Chief Ben Charles Obi, the former vice president said, "I sincerely hope that we are not embarking on another process of deceiving ourselves and our friends."

He said for the people to take the present constitutional amendment process seriously, the recommendations of the Justice Mohamed Lawal Uwais panel must form the basis for the electoral reforms being proposed. He said, "So far, the government has shown little enthusiasm towards implementing the recommendations of that committee. This is obviously contrary to what was promised Nigerians and the world at the inauguration of the panel by this administration."

In his presentation, Chief Olu Falae who is chairman of the Mega Summit Movement (MSM), an association of some top opposition politicians in the country including General Buhari, expressed support for recommendations of the Justice Uwais panel.

Presenting MSM's position on the Electoral Reform Committee's (ERC) recommendations for appointment of the Independent National Electoral Committee (INEC) chairman, Chief Falae said, "Three names for the post of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to the National Council of State for consideration. The National Council of State should select two nominees out of the three and send the two nominees to the National Assembly for one to be appointed for a 5 year tenure, renewably only once. This will require amendments to Section 155 of the 1999 Constitution."

Both Atiku and the MSM advocated that electoral disputes should be concluded before the eventual winners are sworn into office. Atiku said, "How can we allow individuals whose elections are being contested at the tribunals and courts to assume office and use public resources to fight off challenges for nearly as long as they want?"

Buhari, however, said INEC must be allowed to operate as a thoroughly independent and unbiased body, adding, "They must be really independent, not by name. They must be a group of people who are not partisan politicians and they must be people recognized for service throughout the country and they don't look for money from anybody."

On the funding of INEC, the opposition politicians advocated for first line charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation for the commission.

Speaking on the legal procedure in cases of electoral disputes, both the MSM and Atiku proposed that the onus of proof of the credibility of an election should be placed on INEC. "If a party to an election challenges the outcome of that election, INEC must be made to tender the authentic results. We must hold them accountable for their actions, otherwise such people will continue to pop up, again and again, to put our electoral regime under undue stress, threaten our democracy and tarnish our reputation around the world." MSM also proposed that the legal proceedings in disputes over governorship elections should go up to the Supreme Court.

Atiku said for the electoral system to improve, the independence and impartiality of the security agencies must be enhanced, saying "We must change the manner of the appointment and discipline of the Inspector-General of Police and bring it in line with that of INEC leadership as recommended in the ERC report. The INEC, the Police and the judiciary are the most important umpires in our democracy. They must be insulated from undue political interference and influence if our democracy is to survive."

On the voting system to be adopted, the MSM said there is the need to revert to Modified Open Ballot System similar to the one used during the 1993 elections. The association supported partial removal of immunity for public office holders, saying they should enjoy immunity in civil cases and not with respect to criminal offences.

General Buhari also told reporters that MSM is not yet the much talked about Mega Political Party. He said, "It is not a party. We are yet to meet the requirements of making the MSM a party, but we can all remain in our various parties but share same ideologies through alliance."