The Senate has raised the alarm over pending senatorial re-run elections in six senatorial districts of the country.
Ben Murray-Bruce (PDP, Bayelsa East) who raised a Point of Order today, argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) owed the upper chamber explanation on why the pending re-run elections have not been conducted.
The six senatorial districts include Kogi East, Anambra Central, Imo North, Rivers East, Rivers West and Rivers South East.
Recall that yesterday people from Imo North Senatorial District staged a protest at the National Assembly to call attention to the delay in conducting the re-run election.
The federal lawmaker noted that the non-representation of some states in the Senate violates Section 48 of the 1999 Constitution which provides that: “The Senate shall consist of three senators from each state and one from the Federal capital Territory, Abuja”.
Senator Bruce who asked the Senate to take up the issue with the INEC Chairman, said that the people of the affected areas have a right to be represented in the Senate.
He said: “We have not had representation in this chamber from Rivers State, part of Anambra, Imo, Kogi and some other states. INEC concluded elections in one week in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) but in these states they had no representation here and it does not make any sense.
“It is a violation of the constitution; the people of these states have a right to have representation here. The INEC Chairman owes us an explanation to explain why these elections have not been concluded.”
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who presided over plenary, explained that he was aware that INEC will meet to fix dates for the elections on Thursday.
“It is clear in the constitution that INEC should quickly conduct within 30days bye-elections where vacancies occur and so it is far past 30 days when vacancies occurred in some places. It is important that we urge INEC to ensure that as soon as possible that this elections are conducted so that every part of the country, every states would have their full representation in the National Assembly”, he stated.
