The call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the sack of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has drawn support from some pundits in Enugu.
Obasanjo had in a lecture during the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in the US called for the sack of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, and other officials of his level as a means of bringing sanity to Nigeria’s electoral system.
Obasanjo described the 2023 polls as “travesty”, and advocated shorter terms for INEC chairmen.
He called for an INEC chairman that is “transparently independent and incorruptible.”
Toeing the former president’s line, Mr Charlie Okwesili, a public affairs analyst, called for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution to make tenures of INEC chairmen shorter and also remove their appointment from the powers of the president.
He said, “The law gives too much power to the president and governors. We advocate a constitution that enthrones competitive elections from the ward levels to the national.
“Whoever becomes the INEC chairman should also be elected through voting by stakeholders who must be above board.
“This is the only way to avoid making the chairmen of our electoral umpire subservient to the president.
“INEC ruined Nigeria’s electoral system by conducting compromised elections. Our economy is running on wheels. We are in trouble.”
Veteran journalist Julius Anaeyinwa said the failure of INEC to utilise technology during the last general elections and subsequent ones gives credence to Obasanjo’s calls for the sack of its chairman.
According to him, “We saw what happened during the November presidential election in the United States where Mr Donald Trump emerged victorious.
“The Democrats were among the first to congratulate Trump because of the transparency of the poll. There were no hues and cries.
“Our dishonesty is our problem. Why should INEC decide to ruin Nigeria’s democracy?
“INEC went about saying no BiVAS, no election; the same INEC abandoned both BiVAS and Irev for selfish reasons.
“Nothing punitive was done against INEC because somebody benefitted from the ignoble exercise.”
He recalled that former President Musa Yar’adua, after his election, acknowledged the faults in the system, and initiated moves to find a solution to it.
“He regretted that President Tinubu allowed INEC chairman to remain in office because “somebody is benefitting from the system”.
He said, “We need a constitution to state the punishment for anybody that truncates the use of electronic voting.
“Re-organising INEC is long overdue. Even INEC employees should be reformed by deploying them to sister ministries and agencies.
For Chikwendu Onoh, a lawyer, said, “The Justice Uwais Committee brought a template to perfect our electoral system.
“Our problem is the judiciary. Judges should be elected and given tenure of office. They should not be appointed by the president and the governors for any reason.
“The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesome Wike, recently allotted houses to judges, and we are all smiling. He who pays the piper dictates the tune.”