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Senate passes electoral act amendment bill for second reading
The Senate has approved the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2025 for a second reading, marking an attempt to reinforce Nigeria’s electoral framework.
A key proposal in the bill is a shift that would place the burden of proof on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in election petition cases.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the bill’s passage following a voice vote in which the majority of senators expressed their support during Wednesday’s plenary session.
READ ALSO: INEC chair urges lawmakers to fast-track implementation of electoral reforms
The bill has since been referred to the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters for further review and a public hearing, with a directive for the committee to report back within two weeks.
Sponsored by Senator Simon Lalong (APC, Plateau South), the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, the legislation aims to strengthen the legal provisions governing Nigerian elections.
Initially presented for its second reading last Thursday, the bill was temporarily withdrawn to allow for broader consultation before it was reintroduced and debated extensively on its general principles during Wednesday’s session.
Presenting the bill, Senator Lalong acknowledged that while the Electoral Act 2022 introduced key reforms, it also exposed certain shortcomings. These included delays in distributing election funds, disputes over voter registration lists, conflicting interpretations of results transmission, and insufficient enforcement against electoral offenses.
He elaborated that the proposed law seeks to enhance INEC’s independence by protecting it from political influence and government control.
During the debate, lawmakers argued that the current legal framework, which assigns the burden of proof to the petitioner (the person challenging the election), is unjust and undermines the pursuit of electoral justice.
They advocated that INEC, as the body responsible for conducting the polls, should be responsible for demonstrating that the elections were free, fair, and credible.
Senators also voiced concerns about the increasing threat posed by political actors to democratic institutions. They called for greater financial and practical support for INEC to enable the deployment of more advanced technology in future elections.
Akpabio praised the ongoing improvements in Nigeria’s electoral system, stating: “elections have improved in the country since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) left power, we have had improvements but we are not yet there.”
He concluded by urging for continuous reforms to boost transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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