by James Sambo

The House of Representatives has advised the Federal Government to against initiating moves to remove the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

The House also cautioned against tinkering the election ‘arrangements;, pointing out that changing the election plans either by further extending the dates or removing Jega would only lead to a magnitude of violence, which would be worse than the post-election violence of 2011.

On Tuesday, March 3, a resolution was taken by the House following a motion moved by the Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Ali Ahmad.

The resolution read: “Hold personally accountable at domestic judicial forum or at the International Court of Justice, any persons or organisations that foist on INEC any decision or action whatsoever, including unconstitutional attempt to remove the current INEC chairman, that has the effect of making it impracticable for elections to hold on 28th March and 11th April, 2015.”

Lawmakers of the lower chamber noted that the removal of the INEC chairman would be unconstitutional except if it secures the approval of two-thirds of the Senate, as stated in Section. 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

“Such removal can only be achieved when two things happen, viz, (a) his inability to discharge the functions of the office, or (b) for misconduct, as determined by two-thirds of the Senate,” the resolution added.

The motion did not go through without opposition as the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the House attempted to stop it, but it sailed through.

The House Deputy Majority Leader, Leo Ogor, raised an objection on the grounds that the motion was “speculative” as there was no evidence suggesting that Jega was about to be removed. “Nobody is interested in removing Jega; so, we can’t entertain such a speculative motion,” Ogor said.

He was however, overruled by Tambuwal, who refused to allow member to debate the motion, which was eventually passed by the majority.

Kolapo Olapoju