Politics
THE Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) says there is need for free fair and credible elections to ensure patriotic, transparent and accountable leaders who will work and ensure good governance in Nigeria.
Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, CISLAC, said this in his welcome address in a seminar tagged: “National Seminar on Targeted Electoral Reforms and Enhanced Judicial Integrity in Post-Election Litigation”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CISLAC was championing this critical seminar bringing together highly valuable resources to speak on topics reflecting areas of challenges in our democratic journey.
It also reports that in recent times, Nigeria has witnessed series of hitches in electoral outcomes.
Rafsanjani said that while democracy had hitherto been threatened by series of systemic challenges since 1999, we had anticipated to make appreciable progress than we currently have.
The Executive Director said that growing commercialisation of electoral process has deprived many decent Nigerians the opportunity to compete favourably in primary elections across political parties.
He said money politics constitutes a threat to credible and inclusive electoral system in the country. Political financing has become a profitable investment in the country.
He said despite the limits to campaign donation and finance as stipulated by the Electoral Act, in 2023 general and off-cycle elections, there was no control in political spending, as whooping sums were expended on party primaries, electoral campaigns, vote-buying and vote-trading that consequently defeated the essence of electoral integrity.
According to Rafsanjani, electoral violence is one problem that has been identified as a stumbling block to free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.
He said it was no more news that many politicians resorted to illicit electoral strategies, made use of militant youth wings, militias or the state security forces to either win election or strengthen their post-election bargaining position.
“Politics at all levels is currently marred by violence, persecution and intimidation and exclusion of women from active participation in electoral politics.
“The emerging judicial corruption through the post-election litigations like tribunal activities and outcomes has called for adequate reform in our judicial system to make it more independent and efficient in the delivery of electoral justice through which the citizens’ choices prevail,” he said.
According to him, these are very disturbing trends that must be brought to an end in order not to make the role of the electorates irrelevant.
He said that as concerned citizens, it was imperative on everyone desiring the reflection of true democracy in our practice to be apprehensive of the current situation and seek channels for improvement.
Rafsanjani said for them on the side of Civil Society, the highlights the day’s discussion would be useful for advocacy as they seek reforms capable of entrenching electoral and judicial integrity in Nigeria.
He announced that they were fully confident that reflections shared could be compiled into a compendium of thoughts by vastly experienced Nigerians on electoral reforms and enhanced judicial integrity.(NAN)
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December 1, 2023 @ 5:38 GMT|
Tags: Auwal Rafsanjani
