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APC big wig, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has \u00a0backed the move by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to take total control of the commission by asking that he be allowed to pick the Resident Electoral Commissioners.<\/p>\n
The Action Congress of Nigeria National Leader\u00a0 said since Nigerians had given Jega\u00a0 permission to act on their behalf, he should be allowed to pick his lieutenants.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cOnce you say somebody is Chairman\/Chief Executive of a corporation, you have given him all the powers and authority to act on behalf of the people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gave INEC the power and authority to act on our behalf, to be an institution that will be transparent and independent and the commission is being funded directly from source, from allocation, from tax and expenditure from our commonwealth and the wealth of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would we not allow the buck to stop on the table of INEC Chairman so that if he messes up, we have somebody to blame.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy will an INEC chairman not be able to appoint those in the branches in the states \u2013 the Resident Electoral Commissioners who are representatives of IEC in the states?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it was wrong for the RECs to be appointed by the President, who he said, belongs to a political party.<\/p>\n
The ACN chief\u00a0 said it was bad for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, a party he said had vowed that it would rule for 60 years or more, to be the one appointing the RECs.<\/p>\n
He gave instances when some of those nominated as RECs were later withdrawn when there was public outcry against them since they were card-carrying members of the PDP.<\/p>\n
Tinubu said, \u201cIf they are the one appointing RECs and card-carrying member of\u00a0 the PDP, how would we have are liable electoral system?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you have executive opposition or not, power is not served\u00a0ala carte.<\/em>\u00a0It is not like a menu in Sheraton Hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to struggle for it. Let us first of all straighten the institutions. This is my proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n Tinubu spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the 2012 Annual Conference and Awards ceremony organised by the\u00a0Leadership Newspapers.<\/em><\/p>\n He said Nigerians should stop complaining about the cost of governance but step towards reducing it.<\/p>\n The former member of the National Assembly\u00a0 argued that it would be better to allow the House of Representatives represent the people since its members are\u00a0 closer to the grass roots.<\/p>\n Tinubu said, \u201cWe have kept complaining about the cost of governance and the recurrent expenditure.<\/p>\n <\/center><\/p>\n \u201cBut we have never examined the structural problem of even the constitution that we are operating.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do we need two Houses of the National Assembly,\u00a0 whereas\u00a0 the House of Representatives representing the smaller constituencies is enough in the same number of population.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not get rid of the Senate for a slim and better legislative activity? Let us start examining that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" APC big wig, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has \u00a0backed the move by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to take total control of the commission by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n