Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose on Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, clashed with the Chairman, Constitution and Electoral Reforms Committee, Senator Ken Nnamani over the composition of the committee members, asking its Chairman to resign. Faye, whose prepared speech was read at the SouthWest Public Hearing by the Chairman House Committee on Information of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Samuel Omotoso , said the committee was embarking on wild goose chase like in the past.
The Ekiti governor’s representative who spoke in the presence of Ogun state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Nnamani, members of the committee, representatives of Lagos, Oyo, Osun states and others said though, he did not have reservation for the reviewing and reforming of the electoral process, he had issues with three issues.
The governor while faulting the choice of Nnamani as chairman of the committee despite his status as a card carrying member of the All Progressives Congress, also quarried the choice of Ogun state as the venue for the programme, saying, the committee should have chosen Ekiti to ensure inter party collaborations. He said the major Problems facing electoral system are not limited to lack of Reforms, declaring that the major problems facing the electoral system are; the composition of Reforms committee members , the Independent National Electoral Commission and the attitude of the Security agencies which include the Police.
He said ” there is no gainsaying that this electoral review body is not needed until the panel is equitable, apolitical and devoid of influence from the powers that be. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. “If this government is actually serious about electoral reform, then , the Chairman of this committee should resign and allow an independent person to take over. “Senator Nnamani is a South East Regional leader of APC and hence, incapable of rising above primordial and party sentiments to give us anything different from electoral inconclusiveness that we have at the moment.
“The only time this country made an attempt at a reliable electoral reform was during the tenure of President Umaru Yar’Adua who appointed retired Chief, Justice Muhammad Uwais as the Chairman. This singular move gave the panel credibility, widespread acceptability and massive support from all over the country and across political divides. “Such cannot be said of this panel that is overshadowed wih massive moral burdens and conflict of interest as a result of the Chairman being a card carrying member of a political party, called APC”.
Nnamani who had delivered his opening speech earlier before Fayose’s outburst, had to mount the podium again and countered the Ekiti governor. Nnamani who spoke in extempore said, his choice as a politician and a former National Assembly member was right. He rued that, the electoral reform could be achieved if politicians were made members of the committee, saying, appointing judge as Chairman of the committee might not be the best as they were not elected, but, appointed. Nnamani said
“It is the members of the national assembly that will deliberate and craft and deliberate on the matter, each of them belong to a political party . Ken Nnamani chairring this committee belongs to a political party , therefore there is nothing inconsistence about a politician chairring a committee of this nature.
“I want to clarify this because the report of the Committee itself would not be tilted towards a political party; among the members of the committee are those who belong to civil society groups, we have those who belong to different political parties and we have those who don’t belong to any political party.
