OBASANJO’S KNOCK ON INEC REOPENS PUSH FOR ELECTORAL REFORM
OBASANJO’S KNOCK ON INEC REOPENS PUSH FOR ELECTORAL REFORM Last week, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo harped on the urgent need for reform and strengthening of the nation’s electoral process. Obasanjo specifically called for the dismissal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, and officials of the commission at all levels for electoral integrity. The erstwhile President spoke at the weekend via a recorded video address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, saying the electoral system reform is now among the top targets for change in Nigeria. Obasanjo stressed that Nigerians must ensure that the INEC chairman and his staff were thoroughly vetted, adding that the vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan, actors with impeccable reputations. “As a matter of urgency, we must make sure the INEC chairperson and his or her staff are thoroughly vetted. The vetting exercise should yield dispassionate, non-partisan, actors with impeccable reputations. “Nigeria must ensure the appointment of new credible INEC leadership at the federal, state, local government and municipal – city, town, and village levels – with short tenures – to prevent undesirable political influence and corruption, and re-establish trust in the electoral systems by its citizens. “The INEC chairperson must not only be absolutely above board, he must also be transparently independent and incorruptible,” he said. Obasanjo pointed out that INEC failed to implement the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal during the 2023. “These technologies were touted by the INEC chairman himself. In the end, these technologies did not fail. “INEC wilfully failed to use or implement them which resulted in widespread voting irregularities. It was a case of inviting the fox into the hen house,” Obasanjo stated. However, the Presidency took issue with Obasanjo’s critique of the INEC. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy in a statement on Monday accused him of hypocrisy given his administration’s alleged role in organising what it described as the “most fraudulent election held in Nigeria since 1960.” “It is hypocrisy writ large when a man who presided over the worst election in Nigeria demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” Onanuga wrote The call is a renewal of the controversies that trailed the outcome of the 2023 general elections, including the recently held off-cycle elections in Kogi, Imo and Edo states. DAILY POST also recalls that the alleged non-compliance with the 2022 electoral law by INEC was one of the grounds on which the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, challenged the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election. Although Atiku and Obi lost their petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) and the Supreme Court, they had argued that INEC did not follow the provisions of the 2022 electoral act and its own rules in conducting the election. The duo maintained that INEC breached its regulations and guidelines by not deploying technological devices for voter accreditation, verification, continuation, and authentication as required. However, the Supreme Court particularly acknowledged that the non-functioning of the Result Viewing (IReV) portal of the Electoral Commission may reduce the confidence of the voting public in the electoral process. “Truth must be told, the non-functioning of the IReV may also reduce the confidence of the voting public in the electoral process,” Justice John Okoro said while delivering the lead judgment in the appeal by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku. Recently, Sam Amadi, Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, said the “gross flaws” and “manipulations” in the Edo governorship election were sufficient reasons…
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