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State Of Emergency Will Not Stop Elections In Adamawa, Borno, Yobe – Ekweremadu

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  L-R: Wife of the Deputy President of the Senate, Lady Nwanneka Ekweremadu; Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma; and Chairman Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Gil Nnaji acknowledge greetings from crowd at the reception and conferment of chieftaincy title on the Deputy President of the Senate by Oduma Community, Aninri Local Government Area, Enugu State at the weekend. PHOTO: OFFICE OF THE DSP
L-R: Wife of the Deputy President of the Senate, Lady Nwanneka Ekweremadu; Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Ike Ekweremadu; Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma; and Chairman Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Gil Nnaji acknowledge greetings from crowd at the reception and conferment of chieftaincy title on the Deputy President of the Senate by Oduma Community, Aninri Local Government Area, Enugu State at the weekend. PHOTO: OFFICE OF THE DSP

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Wednesday, said elections would hold in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in spite of the ongoing state of emergency in the areas.

 

Ekweremadu made the disclosure when a delegation from the European Union (EU), led by Mr Aloiz Peterlee, visited him in Abuja.

 

He noted that the right of citizens to vote was one of the fundamental human rights that was not suspended under the state of emergency.

 

He said “we just extended the state of emergency and it will expire in November. We hope that by then, we would have contained the insurgency.

 

“But if elections come and there is still insecurity, we will still hold elections because we have had local government elections in the North East despite the state of emergency.’’

 

Ekweremadu also told the visiting EU delegation that the Electoral Act was being amended to allow the introduction of electronic voting “at the appropriate time.

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“We know the electronic voting is a completely new system and it is usually surrounded by all kinds of problems.

 

“In as much as it is quite attractive, we want to ensure that we don’t make the mistakes that others made.

 

“We need to learn from others’ mistakes and improve on our system. That is why, in our amendment, we said INEC will be free to use electronic system when ready.

 

“So, we are not saying INEC must use it in 2015; but if it is ready in 2015 and wants to use it, we don’t have any problems with it.’’

 

The deputy senate president explained that election violence was on the decline, going by the violence-free elections conducted recently in Edo, Anambra and Ondo states.

 

He said funds have been provided in the 2014 budget to conduct recruitment of more personnel into the Nigeria Police Force to help in curtailing election-related violence.

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Responding, the head of the EU team said the visit was a follow up mission to assess the level of electoral reforms in the country.

 

He said the EU made recommendations to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2011 on electoral reform.

 

Peterlee said: “this visit is a follow up mission to assess the progress in electoral reforms, especially with regards the recommendations our mission offered three years ago.

 

“The team had met with the PDP and INEC and during our meeting, we did a review of all 49 recommendations we gave three years ago.

 

“We have seen that some of the recommendations were not just taken into consideration but were already implemented.

 

“But some are partly implemented and some are beyond the limits of INEC.”

 

He urged the major political parties to make commitment to non-violence and the use of hate comments during electioneering campaigns.

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