Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has said that the Electoral Act currently in use no longer reflects the document originally produced by the electoral reform committee.
Kingibe stated this on Monday during an interview on Prime Time on Arise Television.
The lawmaker, who served on the committee, said several provisions in the present Act were not part of the version agreed upon after extensive deliberations.
“What they presented was not in the original one. I spoke to somebody about it. I said, I can show you the documents I have,” she said.
She also raised concerns about the absence of standard security features on ballot papers used by the Independent National Electoral Commission, describing it as unprecedented.
“In what election have we ever conducted, where INEC ballot papers did not have security measures that you can bring any type of ballot paper vote with it? It’s never happened.
“And so when somebody was mentioning to me, I said no, I didn’t see that part. It couldn’t have been there,” she added.
Kingibe explained that the committee worked for two years to produce a document aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s electoral system.
According to her, the process involved both chambers of the National Assembly, INEC, and civil society organisations, with the goal of ensuring credible elections.
“I was on the committee for the electoral reforms. Two years we worked on a document that was acceptable, and we did bi-camera sitting.
“So it was not just the Senate; the Senate and the House of Representatives sat, as well as with INEC and some CSOs and came up with a document that we felt would give us free and fair election. We brought it and every aspect of it was turned upside down,” she said.
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