President Umaru Yar‘Adua’s proposal to reform the nation’s electoral system ran into a storm yesterday at the commencement of Senate deliberations on the first of the six legislative proposals. The bill seeking to establish a Political Parties Registration Commission was battered by a cross-section of senators but was kept afloat by the persistence of the Senate President, Senator David Mark, who played a cat and mouse game with the majority of senators against the bill.

Repeated attempts by senators to kill the bill or suspend it pending the receipt of the report of the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report were overlooked by the Senate President.

Following the lead debate by the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, senators across board immediately assailed the bill with three senators -Chris Anyanwu, Joy Emodi and Nkechi Nwaogu, particularly dismissive of the bill.

Senator Emodi said the bill was only fit for the trash can as she lampooned the legal advisers in the Presidency for the poor crafting of the bill.

However, Senator Anyanwu raised a storm among her colleagues in her description of the qualifications prescribed for members of the proposed commission.

Her assertion on the scarcity of men of integrity in the executive and legislative arms forced some senators to rise against her.

The senators nevertheless made it clear that they were not opposed to a total reform of the electoral system as they insisted that they were against the establishment of another bureaucracy to carry out the functions already being done by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Those that spoke include Senators Ayogu Eze (PDP) Enugu North; Joy Emodi (PDP) Anambra East; Ewa Henshaw (PDP) Cross River; Lee Maeba (PDP) Rivers South-East; Thompson Sekibo (PDP) Rivers; Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP) Cross River Central; Nkechi Nwogu (PDP) Abia and Ikechukwu Obiora (PDP) Anambra, among others.

Presenting the bill yesterday, Folarin said the bill was a bold attempt at reforming the nation’s electoral system, adding that it was a fall-out from the Uwais committee.

Following his assertion, Maeba immediately rose to oppose the bill, arguing that it was in conflict with the 1999 Constitution which already vested the duties of the proposed commission on INEC.

But, his request that the bill be stood down was immediately waved away by the Senate President.

Senator Ndoma-Egba described the bill as an attempt to overburden the Nigerian people and the government which, he said, was already overstretched with too many commissions.

“I am in support of any measure that will reform our electoral system. We need reform so that Nigeria and the rest of the world can have respect for our elections.

"Nigerians are already groaning under the weight of the high cost of democracy. They are complaining that our democracy has become too expensive and over-bearing. We have the responsibility as the representatives of the people to ensure the cost is bearable,’’ he added.

“The trend all over the world is for government to shrink. That type of government determines the level of efficiency as bigger government means bigger corruption.

Senator Ayogu Eze in his argument against the bill said the constitution must first be amended before the Senate could contemplate work on the bill.

“It will be illegal for us to create a commission without first of all amending the constitution. The role of INEC is clearly stated in the constitution and anything we do not in accordance with the constitution is illegal,” he argued.

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I actually agree with the Senators on this one, the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) is totally unnecessary. The govt should focus on reforming INEC and make sure the president does not pick the chairman.

I wonder why Mark did not kill the bill.