Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has outlined nine
conditions he said must be met by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to
restore electoral integrity and strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.
In a statement posted on X on Thursday, Atiku commended
Nigerians for their enthusiasm in the ongoing Permanent Voter Card (PVC) registration
but stressed that credible elections require far-reaching electoral and
judicial reforms.
He noted that voter turnout in the 2023 general elections
was the lowest since 1999, with only 24.9 million of 93.47 million registered
voters participating, representing 26.72 per cent.
Atiku warned that unless reforms are implemented, public
confidence in the democratic process will continue to erode.
He cited concerns raised by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu in his book
The Selectorate, where he argued that judges are increasingly determining
election outcomes instead of voters.
The former vice president listed the conditions to include
mandatory use of BVAS for voter accreditation and upload of election results at
all polling and collation centres, mandatory electronic transmission of
election results to the iREV portal, with no discretion for manual
transmission, and Ward-level collation of results strictly based on
electronically transmitted figures.
Other conditions according to him are: Local Government collation
strictly based on electronically transmitted ward results; State-level
collation strictly based on electronically transmitted local government
results; National collation strictly based on electronically transmitted state
results; ban on manual accreditation, transmission, and collation of results at
all levels.
In addition to those conditions, Atiku demanded subjecting
of the appointment of the INEC Chairman, Resident Electoral Commissioners, and
National Commissioners to democratic voting by the people, and shifting the
burden of proof in election petitions to INEC to demonstrate substantial
compliance with the Electoral Act and Constitution.
Atiku maintained that implementing these reforms would
return power to the people and reduce the influence of vested interests in
determining electoral outcomes.
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