[Enyi]

"The Federal Executive Council's counter-argument that this will amount to a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers is mischievous"
This claim by FEC is highly contentious. The powers given to the President are not sacrosanct. They were given to the President by a group of wise, though not infallible, men and women who drew up the constitution. Since the Electoral Reforms entail ammendment of the constitution, why cann't the power to appoint the INEC chairman be revisited?
"The Federal Executive Council has rejected the ERC's recommendation that election disputes be concluded within six months of the conduct of elections, on the na�ve ground that the present system whereby electoral disputes oftentimes run for two or three years after the elections is good for a "better dispensation of justice to the aggrieved"
Ideally, it is desirable that petitions should be decided before swearing in. However, justice should not be sacificed for speed. I suggest that lawyers should come up with a proposal that will ensure a speedy justice. In the meanwhile until an alternative is found we should consider the following: anybody who is sworn in but eventually loses at the tribunals should refund all financial benefits he/she might have enjoyed in addition to any other punishment that the tribunals may deem necessary. The bottomline is that electoral fraud must not be rewarded in any shape or form.