A former federal lawmaker and lawyer, Ikechukwu Obiorah, who represented Anambra South Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011, has called for the removal of the executive arm of government’s power to appoint electoral officials in Nigeria.
Obiorah, also an author, made the call in his treatise titled “The Philosophy of Elections and Nigeria’s Fake Democracy”, which was made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday.
According to Daily Trust, the former senator said Nigeria’s history of flawed elections since independence has been a major factor responsible for poverty and underdevelopment across the country.
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Obiorah argued that the absence of honest, transparent, free, and fair elections has hindered the nation’s growth and prosperity. He stressed that until the process of appointing electoral officials is removed from the influence of the President and state governors, the dream of credible elections will remain elusive.
Concerned about the prevailing situation, Obiorah said he has put forward a constitutional amendment seeking to strip the President and state governors of the authority to appoint members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), transferring that responsibility instead to a neutral, non-partisan body.
He explained that this reform would help establish a credible electoral process capable of transforming the country’s democratic experience and lifting millions out of poverty.
Obiorah disclosed that a bill to this effect has already been submitted to both chambers of the National Assembly for consideration.
He reasoned that if Nigerians had been allowed to freely choose their leaders since independence in 1960, the country would by now be a fully developed nation comparable to advanced economies around the world.
“Since independence, 90 percent of all elections parliamentary, presidential, national assembly, governorship, house of assembly, and local government council elections have been brazenly stolen, rigged, perverted, or altogether thwarted or nullified,” Obiorah stated.
“In other words, Nigerians have never really and voluntarily chosen their leaders, nor have Nigerians ever been governed with their proper consent and participation,” he added.
The former lawmaker identified the root cause of electoral malpractice as the vested interest of those empowered to appoint electoral officials.
“In Nigeria, the simple but painful cause of stealing and rigging of elections is that those vested with power to appoint the electoral bodies and personnel were themselves, or their political parties, or their preferred candidates, contestants in the same elections,” he noted.
“Right from independence, the then Prime Minister, and later, the President, was always cloaked with the power to appoint the commissioners and senior officers of the electoral bodies responsible for the conduct of all elections in Nigeria.
“However, by virtue of the 1999 Constitution, the power of appointing the state electoral bodies responsible for conducting local government elections was transferred to the state governors.
“Consequently, the world has been witnessing the Soviet Union-style results declared from Nigeria’s local government elections, where the governor’s political party, in most cases, scores 100 percent victory. The world has also been hearing loud cries and protestations against rigging and seeing the avalanche of court cases that attend all other elections in Nigeria for which the president appoints the electoral bodies and officers,” Obiorah said.
The former senator maintained that implementing his proposed amendment would help restore integrity to Nigeria’s electoral system and strengthen democratic governance.
