Why INEC chair ought to go away workplace — Ex-NBA president Agbakoba

A former Nigerian Bar Affiliation (NBA) president, Olisa Agbakoba, has referred to as for a sweeping reform of Nigeria’s electoral system.

He additionally referred to as for the dissolution of the present Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) for such reform to succeed.

Mr Agbakoba, in an announcement Thursday, stated the reform was vital after what he described as Nigeria’s most logistically flawed election carried out by INEC in February and March this 12 months.

He stated, after the latest suspension of the Governor of the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and the chairperson of the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, “subsequent is for the president to dismantle INEC.”

He added that the chairman of INEC, Mahmoud Yakubu, should go away workplace for a reform of the electoral system to succeed.

“Everybody will agree that logistically, the 2023 elections are the worst in our historical past. I don’t confer with the deserves of the outcomes of the elections,” Mr Agbakoba said.

READ ALSO: Nigerian governors have paralysed judiciary – Agbakoba

Many outcomes of the final basic elections, together with President Bola Tinubu’s victory within the presidential ballot, are nonetheless being challenged in courtroom.

“Each petitioners and respondents suffered by the hands of an incompetent INEC,” the ex-NBA president stated Thursday, calling for deep electoral system reforms.

The Presidential Election Petition Courtroom started listening to the petitions in Might and has, up until September, to announce its choices.

MrAgbakoba added: “As we await rulings from the courts, large reforms of the electoral framework ought to start, however which means that the INEC Chairman must go away workplace by resignation or elimination; in any other case, the reform activity will probably be impeded.”

Outcry

There was a public outcry, notably from the camp of the main opposition candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Get together (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Get together (LP) – and their supporters.

One main explanation for the early grievances was the large-scale logistical hitches resulting in late arrival of electoral officers at polling items on election day. In lots of different polling items, electoral officers and the polling supplies didn’t present up all through the day

On the shut of polling in most items throughout the nation on the day of election, INEC additionally did not promptly ship on its promise to add photographic copies of outcome sheets.

Opposition candidates additionally stated that the INEC chair did not look into complaints of malpractices and irregularities earlier than saying the presidential election outcomes on 1 March.

These shaped a part of the problems within the opposition candidates’ separate petitions in courtroom to problem President Tinubu’s victory.

Mr Agbakoba stated Thursday that his “advised reforms don’t have anything to do with the deserves of election outcomes. Each winners and losers of the elections had been victims of the failure of INEC.”

“Confidence in Nigeria’s democracy will probably be enhanced by a deep cleaning of INEC,” he added.