By Emman Ovuakporie & Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA — MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, yesterday, finally adopted the conference committee report on a Bill for an Act to further amend the Electoral Act No.6 of 2010 to create room for a level playing ground for all parties in the electoral process in the country.

House of Representatives during plenary

The report, presented by Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Rep. Jerry Manwe, has 28 amendments.   The amendments include a new sub-section (b) proposed to the extant Section 29(1) of the Principal Act which seeks to give more powers to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be the authority to request for the deployment of security personnel for election monitoring.

This new provision seeks to ensure that the commission is responsible for requesting and deploying relevant security personnel necessary for elections or registration of voters; assigning them in the manner determined by the commission in collaboration with the relevant security agencies, with the condition that the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces shall only be for the purpose of securing the distribution and delivery of election materials.

Section 29 (1) (b) of the adopted amendment states that “not withstanding the provisions of any other law and for purposes of securing the vote, the commission shall be responsible for requesting for the deployment of relevant security personnel necessary for elections or registration of voters and shall assign them in the manner determined by the commission in consultation with the relevant security agencies.

“Provided that the commission shall only request for the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces only for the purpose of securing the distribution; delivery of election materials and protection of election officials.”

The amendment also empowers INEC to disqualify candidates by inserting Section 7(A), which provides that “any political party that presents to the commission the name of a candidate that does not meet the qualification stipulated in the constitution and this Act shall be disqulified from participating in that particular election for that office.”

The amendment is also effected in Section 63(3) by empowering presiding officers to announce results at polling units. It states that “the presiding officer shall then announce the result at the polling unit and shall thereafter give the candidates or their polling agents, the assigned police officer, the assigned representative of the State Security Service, assigned representive of Security and Civil Defence Corps, accredited election observer groups and a representative of the media a copy each of the signed and announced result form.”