Senate President Ahmad Lawan has cautioned Nigerians, who feel strongly about some sections in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill currently before by the National Assembly, against attacking the presiding officers.
The National Assembly Committees on INEC is putting final touches to the draft of the bill which is expected to be passed next week.
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The presiding officers of the National Assembly are under heavy criticisms over reports that the panel, against the popular demands of stakeholders during the public hearings, had introduced a section prohibiting electronic transmission of election results.
But Lawan said the presiding officers were not responsible for the amendments being proposed in the Electoral Act.
He spoke yesterday at the inauguration of the reconstituted Public Complaints Commission by the National Assembly.
Lawan urged the critics to direct their grievances to their representatives in the National Assembly.
He said: “The National Assembly is embarking on the amendment of the Electoral Act. Probably by next week or within the next two weeks.
“It’s very important that those who feel very strongly about any amendment that they think should be effected in the electoral act should contact or talk to their members of House of Representatives as well as Distinguished Senators.
“I want to state categorically clear here that presiding officers are not the ones to determine what is coming or what is not.”
Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, urged the commission to use its power to ensure fairness and equity in public administration in Nigeria.
“You must bring to play all the necessary ingredients needed in public administration for workers protection, for the benefits of Nigerians and residents of Nigeria irrespective of ethnicity or religious inclinations.
“In the course of your duties, you must portray the PCC as a veritable instrument for sanitising public administration in the country,” he added.
