By Henry Umoru

ABUJA—FORMER Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Rowland Owie, has called on the Senate to scrap State Independent National Electoral Commission, SIEC, from the constitution.

He also asked the Senate to grant local governments in the country full autonomy, so they could have direct control of their federal allocation, rather than passing same through state governments.

Senator Owie, who hailed the Senate, following the submission of the status report of its Constitution Review Committee which recommended that the president and governors must assign portfolios to persons nominated as ministers or commissioners before confirmation, said: “I wish to congratulate the Senate for the good job they are doing to decongest the exclusive, legislative lists.

‘’The proposal by Senate in the proposed amendment as it affects local councils, the establishment of Criminal Division of the Federal High Court to try electoral offences and others, are very laudable.”

”Above all, the proposal to guarantee first line charge funding for Houses of Assembly will stop some Houses of Assemblies in Nigeria that act as personal assistants for their governors, abadoning the interest of their constituents, thereby playing roles of widows who decide to marry the drivers of their late husbands, to return to do their duties as the representatives of their people.

”I urge the Senate to go further and expunge State INEC from the constitution and grant full autonomy to LG councils. We did that in the 4th Senate, but it didn’t go through because of some puppet Houses of Assembly.”