Human Rights Lawyer and, former INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini speaking on the peace accord and how BVAS could be a threat to the 2023 general election, said, violence has no place in a democracy.
He added that Nigerian elites are responsible for the worry tendency that is putting our democracy at risk.
According to him, the democracy the country now enjoys was fought for and won.
But, regrettably, many who have no philosophical insight to what we went through when the journey of Nigeria and the prospect of democracy were less certain. Many of them are now politicians today and they are responsible for what we’re going through.
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“It is very shameful, we are in the 21st century, why should how to live together to involve social organisation, to conduct periodic election become a thing like war. That is not what it should be.
“The greatest promise of democracy, is that on a periodic basis, the people of a country will have opportunity to exercise their residual sovereignty to re-elect, appoint, select, a set of people that will manage the public affairs.
Mr Igini added that “Our message is to call in on all leaders, political party leaders, contestants at all levels, to call their supporters to order, because all the violent attacks that we have seen, they are clearly an attack on democracy.
According to him, preventing people from conducting rallies or campaign is tantamount to shooting the hip of democracy which must not be allowed.
The foremost responsibility, civic duty of a citizen is to engage in the process of leadership selection, because everything rises and fall with leadership. How far we can go will be predicated on the choices we make. And every choice we make has consequences.
“I will partner with Nigerians to educate them on the ABC of the electoral act 2022 because INEC made a total of 91 proposals, out of which 48 were accepted.
” Power has been returned to Nigerian people under the current act.
” The polling unit is not the center of the universe, that is where elections will be won and lost, not at the ward level, not at local government level, not at any of those level of result collation, because of the following provisions that have secured the process.
“By virtue of section 47 of the act that repealed effectively section 49 of the previous act, today, nobody can go and warehouse ABC and think that they can use it. That has ended the business of incident form. It is gone forever.
” Today, irrespective of whether you have on the register, on the day of election, you may have millions, thousands, in the entire 106,846 polling unit domiciled in the 8809 wards of the 774 local government, a new register will be produced at every polling unit.
“A new register, irrespective of what you have to be produced, that is cosy of section 51. It is no longer based on computation, or registered voters which is what was used to rig elections before.
“Section 51 has ended the frauds. It is section 53 that has now been repealed.
“This is why months back, several people were seen dumping PVCs in several places, because they can no longer use them.
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