A former Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, Ibrahim Kasai, has said the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is crucial to the survival of democracy in Nigeria.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune at the weekend, he noted that the country cannot have a perfect and credible election if the electoral bodies at the national and state levels are not independent in the true sense of the word, describing their present composition as faulty.
He recommended the South African model for the country, because, according to him, the general public perception is that most of the electoral commissioners appointed at the state and national levels in Nigeria are card-carrying members of political parties.
He said the trend cannot guarantee fairness and justice, stressing that the situation is worse at the state level, where the governors appoint their cronies and party members as electoral commissioners without recourse to the laid-down rules and regulations.
The former ambassador said all this lends credence to why elected local government chairmen have been operating as appendages of the state governors, while local council chairmen are accountable to the governor and not the people.
“We cannot continue like this and expect development; it is high time we have proper electoral reforms that will take care of all these lacunae and shortcomings in our Constitution. The South African election does not generate controversy like ours because of the semblance of perfection.
“Those in government at the moment should borrow a leaf from South Africa where all members of the electoral commission are elected, not appointed, as is the case in Nigeria. If we want INEC to be independent, that is the way to go. The INEC should have its allocation right without depending on the government.
He said: “The INEC at the center should handle local government elections nationwide; this becomes imperative because the governors are using their power to muzzle up the opposing parties in their respective states. If this is not done, opposition parties can never win elections in Nigeria,” he said.
He blamed the majority members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Plateau State House of Assembly for clearing the members of the State Independent Electoral Commission submitted by Governor Caleb Muftwang without considering the interests of those who elected them and the party they represent.
Kasai said the state lawmakers are supposed to live above board and do the right thing, as they are not elected on the same platform as the governor, adding that those appointed are members of the ruling party in the state.
“The APC has a majority in the House. But I was surprised that they cleared all members of PLASIEC submitted by the executive with speed, and since this is supposed to be an independent electoral body, they are not supposed to be partisan. But you can’t expect members of a particular party to be members of the electoral commission to do a thorough job.”
“How do you park members of one political party into the electoral commission and expect justice? If we want stable democracy in Nigeria without any rancor, we must inject sanity and decorum into our electoral system.
“We must have an electoral body that will be fair to all, not card-carrying members of political parties. Our governors in Nigeria are more aware of this; members of the electoral commission are appointed as part of the party’s patronage.”
The former Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, therefore, challenged the National Assembly to be courageous and pursue electoral reform that soundly addressed the issue, adding that Nigeria needs independent-minded people to handle elections at all levels in Nigeria.