Mohammed Uwais

Mohammed Lawal Uwais (born 12 June 1936)[1] was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria from 1995 until 2006. Later he chaired a commission that published a controversial report on electoral reform.

Mohammed Lawal Uwais
9th Chief Justice of Nigeria
In office
1995–2006
Preceded byMohammed Bello
Succeeded bySalihu Moddibo Alfa Belgore
Personal details
Born12 June 1936
Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Uwais is the son of the Chief Alkali, and later Waziri of Zaria emirate.[2]

Electoral reform report

After retiring from the Supreme Court, Uwais chaired a panel on electoral reform that submitted a report on 11 December 2008 with recommendations that included establishing commissions to deal with Electoral Offences, Constituency Delimitation and Political Parties Registration and Regulation. Some of the power vested in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Independent Electoral Commissions would be transferred to the new commissions. The committee recommended proportional representation in elections to the Federal and State legislatures and to the local government councils.[3] The report also recommended that the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission should be appointed by the judiciary rather than the President. This recommendation was rejected by President Umaru Yar'Adua.[4]

Yar'Adua forwarded a modified version of the Uwais report to the legislature in 2009, drawing considerable criticism since many felt that recent elections had been deeply flawed and that basic reforms were required.[5] In March 2010, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded an unedited version of the report to the National Assembly for approval, by implication saying that the recommendations should be implemented in their entirety before the 2011 national elections.[6] The issue of power to appoint the INEC head remained controversial. Before Jonathan had resubmitted the report, the Senate Committee on the Review of the Constitution had rejected the recommendation to transfer this power to the judiciary.[7] After the resubmission, deputy chief whip of the Senate, Mohammed Mana, argued that letting judiciary appoint the INEC chairman violated the principle of separation of powers, since the judiciary was responsible for hearing the cases arising from elections.[8]

gollark: Which I suppose can make some sense if you assume that it's "rational" in that people... like surprises, or something, but...
gollark: People *play the lottery*, too.
gollark: People somehow can't accept positive-sum games.
gollark: > A core proposition in economics is that voluntary exchanges benefit both parties. We show that people often deny the mutually beneficial nature of exchange, instead espousing the belief that one or both parties fail to benefit from the exchange. Across 4 studies (and 7 further studies in the Supplementary Materials), participants read about simple exchanges of goods and services, judging whether each party to the transaction was better off or worse off afterwards. These studies revealed that win–win denial is pervasive, with buyers consistently seen as less likely to benefit from transactions than sellers. Several potential psychological mechanisms underlying win–win denial are considered, with the most important influences being mercantilist theories of value (confusing wealth for money) and naïve realism (failing to observe that people do not arbitrarily enter exchanges). We argue that these results have widespread implications for politics and society.
gollark: (linking because I happened to read it recently)

References
  1. "Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, GCON". Federal Judicial Service Commission.
  2. Prof. John N. Paden (27 October 2007). "The Sokoto Caliphate and its Legacies (1804–2004)". Dawodu. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  3. Daniel Idonor (12 December 2008). "Electoral Reform – UWAIS Panel Recommends Independent Candidates". Daily Champion. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  4. "Nigeria election reform 'U-turn'". BBC News. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  5. HOPE AFOKE ORIVRI (24 March 2009). "Electoral reform: Doctoring of Uwais report unacceptable". Nigerian Compass. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  6. "Electoral Reform – Can Jonathan Make Any Difference?". ThisDay. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  7. Emmanuel Aziken (1 March 2010). "Senators disagree over Uwais panel's report on INEC chair's job". Vanguard. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  8. Stanley Yakubu (29 March 2009). "National Assembly Will Decide Who Becomes INEC Chairman – Mana". Leadership.



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