A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Mr Peter Esele, has called for permanent and irreversible dates for elections in the nation’s calendar.
Esele, a one-time governorship aspirant in Edo and former President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, who spoke in Benin City, Edo State capital, on Monday, said that just as the Independence Day is marked every October 1, election dates should also be made permanent.
The politician contended that it was wrong of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to tinker with election dates by fixing them indiscriminately.
INEC, it would be recalled, had last week rolled out a new timetable for the 2023 general elections, a few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the long-awaited Amended Electoral Bill into law.
INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu announced in the timetable that Presidential and National Assembly elections would take place on February 25, 2023, instead of the February 18 earlier announced by the Commission.
Reacting to the new date, Esele said: “We can’t be having election dates tampered with. No. If we have fixed dates, then political parties will also follow suit concerning delegates’ conferences and primaries.
“In other parts of the world, these things are fixed. You don’t dilly-dally or tinker with such dates. Everyone works and plans with such dates. When you start playing with dates, you create room for distrust; you create room for lack of transparency and also manipulation of the process. INEC should move beyond dropping and changing dates.”
While commending President Buhari for signing the Electoral Act as amended into law, he stressed that INEC should regard the new Act as an opportunity to improve on its processes noting that the areas of contention had been addressed.
“I think gradually with the Electoral Act, we are raising the bar for a fair electoral process. Hopefully, we will no longer have cases in court for years and courts will no longer decide our elections,’’ he said.
Speaking on amendments to the constitution at the National Assembly, Esele opined that personal interests were involved, and condemned any attempt by the National Assembly to include an immunity clause for its principal officers in the constitution as enjoyed by the president, governors and their deputies.
Esele contended that while the executive has a fixed tenure of the maximum of eight years at a stretch, lawmakers could remain in office for as long as they kept winning elections and should, therefore, not be entitled to constitutional immunity.
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