The Federal Government’s sincerity on the restoration of credibility to the electoral process was called to question  when President Goodluck Jonathan sent to the Senate eight nominees as Resident Electoral Commissioners and a National Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). There was outcry over the nomination of people believed to be members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Senator Alkali Jajere, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, spoke with Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR and Correspondent SANNI ONOGU on the criteria for screening the nominees.
What informed your approval of the nominees, given the public outcry, especially on Dr. Gabriel Ada as REC and Lawrence Nwuruku as national commissioner?
First, they are Nigerians. Second, they have the requisite educational qualifications. Third, they have been screened by the State Security Service (SSS) and the police. The fourth step that we took was that we wrote to their respective senators from their states of origin that they should give us a confirmation, attestation on the character and standing of these persons.
What other steps did you take on them, especially when there were protests?
I remember one of the questions that we asked each of them was whether they belonged to any political party or not because I am not from Cross River nor Ebonyi State. So, I wouldn’t have known those nominees well. I did not know them but from my interview and the papers presented before us, if there is anything that would not allow me to confirm them as requested by Mr. President, I would have done so. I am from the opposition party, if I had known I would be the one to even cry. But nobody drew our attention to it. It could have been at that very material time that they should have come up with these issues. If we got this information maybe, we weigh the strength of the information that is given to us and see whether they are qualified or not qualified. But to the best of our ability we acted on the knowledge before us in taking that decision.Â
It was said that some non-governmental organisations wrote petitions against Ambassador Lawrence Nwurukwu that he is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)…
The said petition never reached the Senate or the committee; not to my knowledge, before we confirmed him. If there is a petition to this Honourable Senate, I know the Senate President would have referred that issue to the Committee on Public Petitions, Ethics and Privileges and the committee would have drawn our attention. Never was such a petition before the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, so we wouldn’t know. Those NGOs that petitioned could have got the wisdom to write directly to the Senate Committee on INEC of which Andy Uba is the chairman and I am his Vice. So, we would have acted on those petitions but we never saw them, honestly. But what I can tell you as a member of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is that we acted within the knowledge that was before us. We have never heard all these things. It never came to me. This is the first time I am hearing somebody making all these of allegations.Â
You mean that all through your sittings you did not know? You had not heard the name Nwuruku, a former minister and Ambassador, before?
Actually, from the time the issue was raised and the nominations submitted to the Senate and it was read at the hallowed chambers and referred to the committee, we did not know. First, we were given two weeks and that we had to go for extension for another two weeks. It took one month before we submitted our report; some people could have come within that very space of time to complain that this was wrong and I am sure that the committee would have acted otherwise. People can seek remedy if they so wish on what we have done. But the committee, to the best of my knowledge, acted within knowledge that we were given.
How do you see the confirmation of the nominees as an opposition member in the Senate?
Being in the opposition does not come in here and as far as the committee is concerned, it has done what it ought to have done and we  reported to the Senate. The Senate adopted the report and passed it to the President for confirmation.Â
If Senate does something that is contrary to the constitution as amended and the Electoral Act as amended, is it not proper that when issues arise, it should be corrected?
 Yes. It should be done properly but somebody has to come by way of petition. Somebody has to pursue that cause before the senate could act. As far as I am concerned, I have not seen any petition. If had seen one I could have been the one to point it out. As I have said. I am from the opposition but not a PDP member and I cannot be a PDP member and that decision if taken maybe it is in favour of the PDP. I can’t favour the PDP against my party or against any other opposition political party because we are looking at the situations, the best scenario that can happen and the best thing that would happen to this country is that by 2015, the opposition should wrest the government from the PDP.
So you don’t see PDP taking the country to the promised land…
I can’t see in any country in the world where you have a party consistently at the helm of affairs for 12 years and the country continues to sink and the people cannot use their voting power to change that administration. It is only in Nigeria that all that can happen because PDP is a menace.
See the original article here:
Why we approved new INEC commissioners