A university don has made a case for the removal of powers to appoint the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission from the country’s president.
In his view, Nigeria’s collapsing democracy is because the INEC chairman is being appointed by a president who, in most cases, has interest in elections being conducted by the same chairman.
Prof Nnamdi Okenwa, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Coal City University, Enugu, stated this in Enugu while reacting to a recent piece by former INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega.
Jega had written that chairmen of the electoral body should be appointed not by the president to avoid undermining election results.
According to Prof Okenwa, the nation’s electoral law is not faulty, but its problems are the people that run it, who allow themselves to be manipulated.
He said, “Aside the person that appoints, the integrity of the person appointed also matters a lot. What we see today is someone being appointed, and told how the system should be run. This manipulation makes our elections run in courts and not in the field. Is it not even better to conduct our elections in courts outright?
“INEC chairman Prof Mahmood Yakub gave us high hopes about the credibility of the 2023 elections, but after the polls, he disappeared alongside Mr Festus Okoye, then INEC spokesman. We need change where electoral officials are seen to be above board. US and UK won’t change it for us. People of integrity should be constituted in appointing INEC chairman, and not the president because he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
“Aside INEC, every appointment in Nigeria should be targeted at people of integrity. Because we have a special case, there should be a composition of people without blemishes. We have them across the federation. They should constitutionally handle key appointments in Nigeria.”
He said the situation could be saved if members of the National Assembly mean the best for the country.
Quoting him, “This is where we expect the National Assembly to play a role in amending relevant laws to transfer powers to appoint to a committee of people of proven integrity in Nigeria. It is a pity we claim to be imitating the US but we don’t want to imbibe their ethics.
“Our constitution was imposed on us, and tagged ‘we the people’. And judges get confused in interpreting the provisions. We need a constitution that is unambiguous.”
