By Emman Ovuakporie & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—THE House of Representatives, yesterday,  directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to release the list of 66 suppressed state constituencies throughout the country, in accordance with Section 91 of the 1999 Constitution and the 2006 population figures.

INEC boss, Mahmood Yakubu

The directive was sequel to a resolution taken by the House, following the unanimous adoption of the motion sponsored by Kingsley Chinda (PDP/Rivers) who drew the attention of the House to the failure of INEC to carry out proper delimitation and delineation of electoral constituencies in several states.

The House further directed the electoral body to forward the list of affected constituencies to the National Assembly for ratification, just as it resolved to send the House resolution to the Senate for
concurrence.

Chinda, who sponsored the motion, stated that INEC’s failure to release the list of the additional constituencies had denied people of the affected states and constituencies their constitutionally guaranteed right to adequate representation at state Houses of Assembly.
He stated that the constitutional provisions were mandatory on INEC, asserting that failure to comply amounted to breach of the constitution.