The
prominent civil Rights advocacy group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked president Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly
to save Nigeria from witnessing a probable civil war as an aftermath of a definitively
rigged 2023 general election by dissolving the current hierarchy of the heavily
compromised, incompetent and irresponsible leadership of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) headed by Mr. Yakubu Mahmood. INEC as
currently constituted is acting like an undertaker of democracy in Nigeria. The
group has also condemned the Police Service Commission for failing to stop some
rogue elements within the policing institution from masquerading as armed
political thugs who actively disrupted elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.
HURIWA
was reacting to the charade disguised as governorship polls misconducted by the
corrupt electoral umpire in which the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)
were railroaded into undeserved and purchased victories. HURIWA said what took
place in those two states were a total travesty of the electoral system and would
not stand the test of time if Impunity and lawlessness were not the hallmarks
of the current hierarchy of the electoral commission.
HURIWA
has also proposed the immediate adoption of the relevant portions of the
electoral reformation recommendation which were made by a high profile panel of
experts headed by a one time chief Justice of Nigeria Justice Mohammed Uwais
(rtd). Also the group wondered why the President, Muhamadu Buhari rejected the
well thought out electoral Act amendments done by the eight session of the
Nigerian National Assembly which amongst other major recommendation legislated
the introduction of electronic voting system. HURIWA also expressed shock and
consternation that the current administration could blow away millions of
public fund setting up the Senator Ken Nnamani electoral reforms Presidential
committee but ended up dumping the recommendations from that panel in the
dustbin of history. The Rights group said the government must show the
political will and will power and then proceed to bring into being the desired
electoral reforms unless the current administration wants Nigeria to
disintegrate in 2023 due to electoral violence that will be inevitable if the
current electoral management body's status quo remains.
HURIWA
has also canvassed the adoption by way of electoral legislative reforms, the
practice of electronic voting system to stave off the recurrent cases of ballot
box snatching by armed political thugs prodded on by politicians and assisted
by corrupt armed security forces. The Rights group condemned the Police and the
other security forces for failing to arrest those armed hoodlums who killed
dozens of voters in Kogi and Bayelsa states.
In a
statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the
National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA expressed fear that
the mini civil wars that took place as elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states in
which the two dominant political parties – All Progressives Congress (APC) and
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) unleashed electoral violence leading to death of
scores of voters shows that the 2023 general election if conducted by the same
incompetent, corrupt and compromised INEC under the current hierarchy with the
same compromised security forces could push Nigeria into a civil war because
the current INEC leadership has severally failed the litmus tests of
objectivity and sound judgment. Besides, the Rights group stated that going by
the miscarriages of justice by the election tribunals and the supreme court in
the litigation that trailed the rigged 2019 polls, shows that prospective
political office seekers will rather adopt self-help measures than go to court.
HURIWA
quoting a newspaper reports recalled that in August 2007, ex-president Umaru
Yar’Adua also set up a similar 22-man committee headed by Justice Muhammadu
Uwais (CJN, 1995-2006) to undertake a review of the electoral system and
suggest ways of reforming it. It concluded its job in December 2008, having
asked for an extension of the initial one-year deadline on account of the
massive number of memoranda it received. The report was thorough, exhaustive
and frequently cited by stakeholders as an appropriate and adequate response to
the electoral malaise that undermines the stability and development of
Nigeria’s political system. In fact in 2010, ex-president Goodluck Jonathan,
whose electoral altruism is increasingly coming into sharper relief, forwarded
the report to the National Assembly for action. The legislature chose to dither.
No comments:
Post a Comment