Senate supports House of Reps take over of Kogi State HoA

The Senate, on Thursday, voted to back the decision of the House of Representatives  to take over the legislative functions of the Kogi State House of Assembly, following the crisis that engulfed the state.
 
The red chamber, which  also adopted a resolution of the House of Representatives, which declared as null and void, the impeachment of the Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Honourable  Momoh Jimoh-Lawal.
 
The chamber also condemned the activities of the Nigerian Police in the crisis, adding that the police apparently subverted the provisions of the constitution by providing cover for only five out of 20 of the Kogi Assembly lawmakers, who sat to illegally impeach the speaker.
 
Meanwhile,the senate, on Thursday, moved to legalise the use of card reader, following the passage through the second reading of a bill seeking to legalise the use of the cards.
 
Senator Tijani Kaura, who led the debate on the need for further amendment to the electoral act  tagged “ A bill to further Amend the Electoral Act 2010 ( No 6) and for other Matters Connected Therewith”, said that the bill principally seeks to give legal impetus to the use of card reader .
 
He said the introduction of the device in the 2015 general election, was necessary to curtail electoral abnormalities in the country .
 
The lawmaker stated that if card reader and by extension, the Permanent Voter Card ( PVC), had been taken care of through the electoral act, the court would have ruled in favour of the card reader.
 
He said: “The card reader is not provided for by the Electoral Act 2010 (No 6 ), despite its novelty and this was the rationale behind the rulings of the Supreme Court on gubernatorial election cases of the states mentioned.
 
“Thus, this bill becomes necessary as amending the law will enable the Supreme Court to reverse itself in future similar cases”
 
He argued further that the said card readers , if eventually legalised through an amended electoral act, will not in anyway, depose or dethrone the voters’ Register whose judicial roots are firmly embedded or entrenched in the same electoral act from which the voters’ register directly derives its sustenance and currency