By Doris Ferdinand
The House of Representatives Wednesday has urged INEC to as a matter of urgency commence the review of constituency delineation as enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended.
The minority leader of the house of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu who made this call via a motion at plenary titled, Review of the Division of States of the Federation into Federal Constituencies noted that INEC has not deemed it necessary to comply with section 73(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended from 4th republic till date thereby depriving citizens of bloated federal constituencies adequate attention.
Elumelu expressed worry over the continuous failure for INEC to live up to its responsibilities in reviewing the division of states into federal constituencies noting that it does not only portray INEC in a bad light but the entire government institution including the national assembly for also failing to call her to order and invoking adequate sanctions where necessary.
In his resolution, he said;
“INEC should without further delay review constituency delineation as enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended.”
Interacting with the press, Elumelu said:
“If the Constitution which is supreme said INEC should do it, then INEC should tell us why they are not doing so. Let INEC be up to their responsibilities.
“The greatest injustice is to deprive the people at the rural level the privilege to be represented close to the government.
When asked if he was indirectly requesting for more federal constituency, Elumelu said;
“The Constitution did not say increase, it says review. Should we jettison the provision of the Constitution? We are open to the outcome of INEC review. So let them review. ” Elumelu noted.
