By EricJames Ochigbo
The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Dr Chibuzor Okereke, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders to ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2027.
He said that honesty and effective communication to Nigerians on the electoral activities and the functionalities of equipment being deployed for the exercise were imperative for the general public ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Okereke bared his mind while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Personality Interview Series on Sunday in Abuja.
He also called on other electoral stakeholders such as the security agencies and those engaged to perform electoral duties to be thorough in the discharge of their duties.
Okereke said that the amount of money usually spent in the conduct of elections by the government, political parties and candidates is too enormous for the exercise to be flawed.
“It will be painful not to get credible elections in return after huge expenses, and this kind of trend will not be fair to the Nigerian society,” he said.
According to him, all stakeholders should work together and help INEC to be a better institution to enable it to deliver credible elections.
“The advice I will give INEC is to be honest with the Nigerian people, especially with their infrastructure and their systems.
“It is better to communicate, to say, we are having this challenge and we need to either change the date of election or something else than to create a communication gap and end up in conducting poor elections,” he said.
Although Okereke said that the burden of delivering credible elections rests on INEC, he, however, added that the new INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, should be given the benefit of doubt.
“As the new INEC Chairman had pledged credible elections during his screening and confirmation at the senate, Nigerians should give him the benefit of doubt,” he said.
The presidential candidate described election in Nigeria as a big deal, saying that it is beyond INEC.
According to him, INEC should not be isolated, as the commission alone cannot deliver credible elections without the support of Nigerians.
“In some communities, people can make up their minds on how certain elections will go and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
“It is Nigerians that can deliver free and fair elections and that will include security agencies, political parties, political actors, community leaders and other organisations.
“It is a whole society approach, but INEC must lead the pack as an institution and the umpire.
“There are confidence-building things they must do; there are things they must do to guarantee people that their votes will count,” he said.
The presidential candidate warned against discrediting democratic institutions such as INEC, saying doing so could affect voter confidence and lead to voter apathy.
He, however, tasked INEC on proper logistics and welfare of field workers to prevent them from becoming vulnerable to political poachers.
On the process of appointing INEC chairman, national commissioners and resident electoral commissioners, Okereke argued that the president appointing INEC top officials is not responsible for any failure in the system.
He maintained that the law setting up INEC explicitly empowered it to function without the direction of any external person.
According to him, it is not the appointment by the president that is the problem but the choice of implementation.
Okereke explained that in the real sense, the president does not appoint the INEC chairman but merely nominates while the senate confirms the person.
“The senate is made up of individuals sent from each senatorial district; it then means that each senatorial district has a say in the appointment and can say no, we do not like a certain chairman and if a senator votes against the wish of his senatorial district, he will not return to the senate.
“That is the design and intention of the constitution. The idea of saying let the National Judicial Council (NJC) appoint, is not the solution,” he said.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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Edited by Francis Onyeukwu/’Wale Sadeeq