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The Deputy Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, yesterday, overcame
opposition by members to the decision of the senate to permit
adjudication for governorship election cases, as the lower chamber
finally approved the harmonized amendments to the 1999 constitution.

In separate
amendments last week, the House altered six sections of the
constitution while the senate approved 10, to pave way for the
extension of dates for next year’s election.

The extra four
sections which the senate introduced, to allow gubernatorial election
cases terminate at the Supreme Court, was harshly questioned on
Thursday by the Representatives who appeared poised for an
unprecedented defeat of a passed bill at the harmonization level.

“I am wondering if
we as a parliament can accept that the issue of governorship election
cases move from election tribunal to the Supreme Court. Where will
justice end for the governors to have time for the issue of
governance,” three-term Delta state member, Halims Agoda, said.

But presiding
officer, Mr. Nafada, turned down overwhelming voice votes against the
bill and convinced the lawmakers to back the amendment after more than
half-an hour of secret consultations.

“We cannot go back
to the senate and say we cannot carry this,” he declared before the
commencement of the closed session. “It will mean the whole exercise
will not make sense. We will adopt it.”

Lawmakers
acknowledged such a defeat would set back the desired extension of
election dates, which is near finalization, but they argued that the
terms of the senate-sponsored clauses will create more challenges for a
polity already burdened by lengthy election process.

By implication, the
provisions will allow gubernatorial election cases move from election
tribunals to the Supreme Court, against the current practice where it
terminates at the Courts of Appeal. For now, only the presidential
election cases are heard at the Supreme Court.

An earlier
unsuccessful attempt by the federal lawmakers to alter the sections,
during the exercise concluded in July, seeks to make the case reach the
highest court only if it begins at the Appeal courts and not the
tribunals.

But members in
support of the extension said it will help lessen the workload of the
Court of Appeal, which has complained of shortage of judges.

With the
experiences of Ekiti, Edo and Ondo states, where true winners of the
2007 governorship elections took office after an average of three years
in court, majority of the members said the intent of the bill is to
grant an unnecessary extension of time for fraudulent polls’
beneficiaries who may be only called to account after they have left
office.

A House committee
named to harmonize last week’s passages from both arms of the National
Assembly accepted the senate’s position at a meeting on Monday.
However, the House disowned the representation yesterday and asked that
the clauses be stepped down.

The bill finally
passed soon after the members emerged from the executive session,
during which those familiar with the proceedings said Mr. Nafada
explained to his colleagues the need to support the governors who in
turn will support the lawmakers.

No backdoor bill

Separately, the
House strongly denied media reports that the rejected clauses of the
Electoral bill, which has to do with the choice of delegates to
primaries, had found its way back to the chamber.

At two news conferences, house officials said presidency sponsored bill was still with the committees to which it was referred.

“We have never said
anywhere that we will accept the contentious areas of that bill, as of
today the committee has yet to submit its reports,” said Sarkin Adah,
chairman of the House committee on Electoral Matters.

Many other members re-echoed their preparedness to defeat the bill
when it is brought back to the house. Reports had said the bill was to
be re-presented to the house on Thursday, this time as a
member-sponsored bill.