From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu, has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to show commitment to electoral reforms in 2022, so as to leave a legacy of credible elections. Okechukwu, who stated this, in a statement, on Friday, said an improved electoral system is crucial to the country’s quest for good governance and accelerated development.
The lawmaker observed that there have not been value addition to the country’s electoral system in the six and half years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government.
According to him, under the current administration, the country has witnessed inconclusive elections, voter apathy, electoral violence, ‘ambush of successive Electoral Act amendments”, among others.
“As 2022 dawns, therefore, the onus is on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration to prioritise electoral reform and leave our electoral system better than it met it.
“It is regrettable that a party, which came to power on the strengths of electoral reforms, democratic temperaments and free electoral climate engendered by PDP administrations has refused to add value to the system either in the amendment to the Constitution or the Electoral Act.
“The quest for improved electoral system cannot be a battle we regularly have to fight. The President, who has been hired to do a job, should simply do so and leave Nigeria better than he met it,” Okechukwu stated.