grudging kudos...

to be honest, and as most of you know, i am one of the few nigerians who believe that nothing can come out of the overfed, underworked and semi-literate bunch of nigerian citizens who have meandered their ways into the national assembly. half of them are past government office holders who have run to the senate to avoid the prying eyes of the (now lame) EFCC, while the others are just getting paid back by their political godfathers who they have served faithfully for the last eight years.

and so, you can imagine my disbelief when i hear that both houses of the national assembly have adopted a report for constitutional amendment, that actually makes common sense and is relevant to our polity today. it is this disbelief that makes me give a grudging kudos to the senators of the federal republic of nigeria, who i loathe only slightly less than tetanus infection.

the media reports indicate that among other things, the adopted report recommends for elections to hold not later than 120 days (4 months) to the due swearing in day to allow for resolution of all electoral petitions. As you already know, nigeria has been the constant laughing stock by having elections that produce winners who will be removed from office in a year by losing an election petition. the sad thing, is that the same flawed election that produced the false winner, is the basis for which the replacement governor too holds office.

any nigerian citizen should now be able to run as an independent candidate, without the need to join or be put forward by a political party (the end of PDP) and that means that if any political party refuses to field Jonathan as its frontliner, he will just declare his independent candidacy and we will all vote for him, the flipside being that IBB can also do the same (darn).

the part of the report that made me smile was the portion that made amends the constutition to state that should the president proceed on vacation or be unable to discharge his duties, he must transmit a WRITTEN declaration to the senate. IF HE FAILS TO DO THIS WITHIN 21 DAYS, THE SENATE MAY BY SIMPLE VOTE EMPOWER HIS VICE TO ACT TILL THE PRESIDENT IS ABLE TO AGAIN FUNCTION. i wonder whatever happened to make this particular amendment necessary?! :)

the really heartwarming part of the recommendations is that INEC will no longer require executive approval of funds it requires to operate. As such, just like the judiciary, its funding is now a first line charge on the federation account. this kinda weakens the power of the existing executive arm of government on INEC through any delays or threats of withholding funds.

it seems that all in all, nigerians have finally got on the road towards globalisation. we have eventually decide to stop the charade and address the major problems of real, people elected governance. also, it proves to me that goodluck jonathan has immense goodwill from this present crop of senators who are doing all within their power to ensure that he keeps his promise of conducting the fairest elections ever conducted in this country.

and maybe its pure coincidence, but nuhu ribadu has returned to nigeria after 2 years in exile. all charges against him have been dropped (those charges reminded me about the abacha days) and he is apparently a free man. all jonathan needs to win my vote now, is to make him the next INEC chairman. then i will gladly withdraw my visa lottery application to the US (yeah right).

See y'all around peeps. don't forget that this time, we must all vote.