Former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has called for more a more critical role for the judiciary towards a credible election in Nigeria.
The former Vice President, made this call on Monday in a statement he personally signed which was made available to Businessday by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe even as he insisted that the 2019 elections were several steps down from the 2015 elections in terms of credibility and obvious lapses.
“One way of addressing these lapses is to implement the salient recommendations of the National Electoral Reform Committee (NERC) headed by former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais. The second is the creation of Electoral Crimes Commission.
“One of such recommendations, which will enhance the independence of the supposedly Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is the recommendation that the power to appoint the Chairman and board of the INEC be taken away from the President and given to the Judiciary,” he said.
He said that of all three arms of government, the Judiciary is the least affected by elections, meaning that it has the highest objectivity in matters relating to the INEC. He said that it is therefore in the best position of the three arms, to appoint a Chairman and board members for the electoral body that are impartial, competent and patriotic.
He said that as a democrat, he is challenging that election in the right arena, the courts. He said however, that leadership does not just entail getting justice for the past. “A real leader knows that in terms of justice, prevention is better than cure,” he said.
He added that Nigeria’s electoral system needs not just to be brought up to date, by the acceptance of the amendments to the Electoral Act passed by the eight National Assembly, but also needs to be up to tomorrow, by taking steps today to ensure that the lapses that made it possible for the 2019 elections to be manipulated or rigged are addressed.
“This recommendation may seem like a small change, but my experience in life has taught me never to underestimate the big difference small changes can make.
