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The National
Assembly has agreed to postpone next year’s elections, as requested by
the Independent National Electoral Commission. It, however, warned that
it will not grant any further demands from the electoral body as it
prepares for the polls.

The lawmakers said
they view INEC’s latest appeal, that elections be moved from January to
April next year, as a challenge that will be met as Nigeria hopes to
attain credible elections in 2011.

“We are prepared
to go the whole hog to give INEC what it takes to do a good job. Let me
assure that we will always find solutions to what confronts us as a
nation,” the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, said.

The electoral body
had requested that the elections be moved to April 2011, to allow more
time for preparations, and at a press briefing yesterday, the chairman,
Attahiru Jega, pointedly urged the National Assembly to find ways of
meeting the demand.

Last week, the INEC chairman admitted to NEXT that he can only guarantee a credible election if he is given more time.

Work to be done

The lawmakers yesterday met with the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.

The meeting was
attended by Mr. Ekweremadu; the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; deputy Speaker, Usman Nafada; and
members of the constitution review committee of both chambers of the
National Assembly.

Mr. Bankole and
Mr. Nafada said while the National Assembly is prepared to “find
solutions” to the demand of the commission, further requests from a
body seen to be asking for too much may not be met.

“The National
Assembly has always responded to issues of the constitution and we have
proven that this year,” Mr. Bankole said at the meeting.

“This is just
another one, and we will come up with a solution. However, my advice to
chairman Jega is that after this presentation, we pray that we will not
have another presentation,” he said.

No suspension

The lawmakers rejected the option of suspending the Constitution until 2015, advocating for an outright change of dates.

“We know that it
is legislatively impossible to suspend a Constitution that is already
running,” the deputy Senate president said.

The decision means
that the current Constitution will have to be amended again to provide
new dates. This will also require the support of two-thirds of the
states Houses of Assembly. The lawmakers did not commit to any
particular date at the meeting, but later met with the commission
officials, where, according to Mr. Ekweremadu, the commission was asked
to submit a timeline that indicates how it arrived at the April date.

The commission is to return with the proposal on Wednesday.

“We want to ensure that there is no further extension of time,” Mr. Jega told reporters after the closed-door session.

He said the lawmakers supported INEC’s position that in the event of extension, the May 29 inauguration date be kept untouched.

While lawmakers
await the return of the commission on Wednesday, they will meet with
the 36 states legislature leaders and governors on Tuesday night, Mr.
Ekweremadu said.

He also said the
National Assembly will commence amendments procedures “immediately
thereafter”, receiving the position of the electoral body on Wednesday.
“We have committed ourselves to doing this judiciously,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Jega
told reporters that contracts for the Direct Data Capture machines have
been awarded, saying the final contract will be signed later in the
week. He said further information on the deal will be released to the
public after the signing.