2019: Group Faults NASS On Re-Ordering Of Election Sequence

A group, Voter Awareness Initiative, has faulted the National Assembly on its re-ordering of the sequence of the 2019 general elections.
The President of the group, Wale Ogunade, faulted the position of the NASS in a statement he issued on Tuesday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the National Assembly Committee on Electoral Act (Amendment) had on Feb. 6, adopted a re-ordered sequence of the 2019 general elections, making the presidential election come last.
The adopted sequence put the National Assembly elections first, followed by the governorship and state houses of assembly elections.
This is against the sequence rolled out by the Independent National Electoral Commission late 2017, which put the presidential and National Assembly elections first, then governorship and state assemblies’ elections.
Ogunade described the National Assembly’s move as arbitrary, uncalled for and self-serving.
He said though the legislature had the power to make laws for good governance, such power should not be used to pursue an agenda at the expense of the country’s democratic development.
Ogunade said the re-ordered NASS timetable, in all intents and purposes, stands logic on its head.
He said: “To us at Voters Awareness Initiative, election should be to a politician what examination is to a student.
“It is the duty of the examiner to set timetable and other paraphernalia of the examination; the only duty of the student is to prepare adequately for the examination.”
Ogunade urged the NASS to drop the bill and allow INEC to use its own sequence of election.
He said VAI would not hesitate to stage a protest if the NASS bill was allowed to see the light of the day