Apparently deferring to the outcry in the land, the Senate has introduced a bill seeking total adherence to the federal character principle in the appointment of service chiefs. Sponsored by the Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, the piece of legislation, which scaled first reading yesterday, is creating a commission that would recommend service chiefs to the president. Tagged “Armed Forces Service Commission and other related matters 2020”, the proposed law stated that the appointment of the Chiefs of Defence Staff; Army Staff; Air Staff; Naval Staff; Director of Military intelligence and heads of other arm-bearing security agencies shall be subject to the recommendations by the commission. According to one of the proposed laws sponsored by Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, (Delta Central), cases of political parties’ nominations for public offices and emergence of executives should be exclusively entertained by a pre-election matter tribunal to be set up by the proposed amendment. Accordingly, the bill stated that “each election tribunal shall dispense with matters before it within 180 days while all pre-election matters shall be filed within seven days from date of publication of candidates.”

Source: The Guardian March 04, 2020 03:45 UTC