Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice, Human Rights and Justice has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the country’s judiciary to stand in defense of democracy ahead of the February 25 and March 11 elections.
Bamidele made the call in Abuja on Wednesday during a one-day special session on the “Number of implementation of the Electoral Act, 2022 before the conduct of the 2023 general election”.
The session was organized by the Joint Committee of the National Assembly of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the support of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center (PLAC) and the United Kingdom (UK).
Bamidele, also the Chairman, Southern Senatorial Forum, while tasking other stakeholders in the same vein, said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the election is conducted as scheduled.
He said, “The nation is at a crossroads; and all stakeholders must stand up to defend our democracy.
“Two stakeholders stand out. INEC to stand on its feet and do its best and the court.
“This is because when the political class has come to hold the nation to ransom as it seems now, the court must stand up and save the nation from the political class.”
Bamidele also suggested that the National Assembly should rework the electoral process to ensure that gray areas are addressed.
“There is a need to go back to the drawing board and rework the electoral process as it is today.
“But in the meantime, we have a law that if implemented sincerely by all stakeholders, all parties involved, it should take us somewhere.
“But it does not mean that Uhuru has not. In some provisions of the law; we mean also to the extent that we disenfranchised ourselves in an effort to get it right.
“I do not know that any member of the National Assembly can vote as a delegate in the primacy of his own political party”
In the ongoing crisis of naira shortage, Bamidele charged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to meet the expectations of Nigerians and stop behaving like a threat to democracy.
He also raised concerns about the difficulties Nigerians are currently experiencing in accessing money through banks.
“The CBN told us at the beginning of the policy that the target is the money bag that spends billions in the closet. We thought that is the person who wants to get in.
“Now we have seen that it is an ordinary man on the street. He sleeps in the hall of the bank because he cannot earn a small amount of money. We need to understand the political economy of the electoral process.
“People think about the money politicians will spend to buy votes, they do not realize that political parties will also deploy people to all polling units as agents, just like INEC will deploy its personnel.
“Today, CBN assured Nigerians that it will give money to INEC if it needs more money.
“Are we saying that INEC must rely on the intervention of the CBN to make it work?
“If the police encounter logistical problems, will they also run to the CBN for selective intervention?
“We are fighting Boko Haram, if the military authorities cannot access funds from the banks, should they also approach the CBN for selective intervention?
“This is the issue and as a stakeholder, the CBN is the most important threat to the election as scheduled.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the INEC Secretary, Mrs May Agbamuche, spoke on behalf of the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
He said the commission had no intention of delaying the election.
According to him, INEC has done 12 steps out of the 14 listed to conduct the election.
He said the commission would conduct free, fair, credible and transparent elections.