Rivers senatorial election must hold by Dec 10 – Senate

Senate has gone tough on INEC over empty Rivers senatorial seats. According to the senators, it is unfair that the year is almost out and Rivers has not had a say in legislative matters debated on the floor of the Red chamber. The point of order was raised by deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu, who called the attention of the Senate to pending elections and failure of INEC to act accordingly.

Senate majority leader Ali Ndume agreed that INEC was not acting properly. “It could be any of us as in the case of River State, imagine a state like mine ravaged by insurgency without a representation. “We have a new leadership in INEC and yet the case has either recorded inconclusive and sometimes confusion” Ndume said.

Senate president Bukola Saraki admitted that the move was very crucial for democracy in Nigeria. He said: “This is a very important motion targeted to improve our democracy and we will go with the information from the INEC Committee.

“We all saw the INEC Chiarman during his screening, this is a very challenging time for him and his organisation to prove themselves. “The INEC Chairman has given us his words and we will hold him accountable to it.” Meanwhile, Senate president Saraki has condemned the reports of sexual abuse on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by security agents. Saraki was reacting to the report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday, October 31