AMENDED CONSTITUTION FALLS SHORT OF EXPECTATION – CNPP

By NBF News

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties on Thursday in Abuja said that the harmonised amended constitution fell short of the expectations of Nigerians.

The CNPP National Secretary, Chief Willy Ezugwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the first amendment did not address issues of genuine electoral reforms, restructuring of the federation and the immunity clause.

He said that the selection of some parts of the Justice Uwais report reflected negligence of its relevance toward a genuine electoral reform.

'If you are not a diplomat you cannot run election in Nigeria.

'Is that the cause of our electoral flaws,' he queried.

'The kind of thing they brought out as their electoral reform is not what Nigerians expected,' he insisted.

Ezugwu argued that Uwais committee toured the country and came up with recommendations that would ensure a reformed electoral process as well as move the country forward.

He said that the Senate would have adopted the entire recommendations of the reports, adding that a selection of some portions would be an impediment to successful elections in 2011.

'In fact, they have killed the whole electoral reforms report submitted by the Uwais committee,' he added.

Ezugwu welcomed the nomination of Prof. Attahiru Jega as the Chairman of INEC, describing him as a man of uncommon integrity.

Though he did not mention names, Ezugwu expressed disapproval over some of the names mentioned as members of the National and Resident Electoral Commissioners.