The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) needs a comprehensive overhaul, according to Olabode George, a former national vice chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In an interview with Saturday Tribune, George called Nigeria’s election system chaotic and shameful.
In response to the crisis that shook the Lagos State House of Assembly, the PDP leader bemoaned the problem of godfatherism that plagues Lagos State politics.
He said we cannot discuss political problem solving without mentioning the process by which we elect senators, members of the House of Representatives, governors, the president, and members of the State Assembly.
He said that if we want peace and progress in this nation, we need to redesign our electoral system from the ground up.
“If you look at this party called APC, aside from Ganduje posing as chairman, who is the National Secretary of APC?” George asked. The APC’s National Organising Secretary is who? Where is their Exco? Is holding a general assembly the proper way to run a political party? That’s all we’ve heard lately. Since the electorate needs to be informed about all of these shenanigans, I am approaching the situation from the perspective that they have the authority to choose to elect or remove you during an election based on your performance and how they feel about your management style. Additionally, you can see that the party is owned by an emperor. How did all those boys win their seats in their respective constituencies? Did their constituents vote for them, or did a single desk make the decisions? One of their main criteria for a political party is godfatherism. You are not allowed to leave if the boss does not give you permission. So the decision is not with the constituency and the people. The actual proprietors of governance are the people; it is the core of democracy. They elect who they want and when you don’t perform, the next election they toss you out.
“But you see the mess we call INEC? I am now trying to illustrate the consequences, the inadequate methods to tackle political problems in this country. There is no way we can talk about it without referring to the system by which we elect State Assembly representatives, senators, House of Representatives members, governors and the president. It is shambolic, it’s a complete shame, it should be entirely reformed if we want peace and growth in this country. we have to fully rebuild this INEC, the people there, since they bought the system, they bought the equipment, the computers so that all these interlopers who write things by hand and manipulate the process can be entirely flushed out. Once you vote, the results go to the BVAS and then the results would come out.
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“The last time they told us it was glitch that caused the problem. It is not limited to the exhibits in the Lagos State House of Assembly, then. It goes deeper than that. Our eyes have now been enlightened to the drab methods of running our nation. We are only kidding if we keep up that mess without cleaning out the INEC and the process because it isn’t functioning. It would worsen.
