A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Edo, Peter Esele, on Monday in Benin, called for irreversible dates for elections in the country.
Esele, a one-time governorship aspirant in Edo and former President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, said election dates must be permanent just like Independence Day marked every October 1.
Reacting to the new date fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission for next year’s election, Esele said, “We can’t be having elections dates tampered with. If we have fixed dates, political parties will also follow suit concerning delegates’ conferences and primaries.
“In other parts of the world, these things are fixed. You don’t tinker with such dates. Everyone works and plans with such dates.
“When you start playing with dates, you create room for distrust; you create room for lack of transparency and also manipulation of the process. INEC should move beyond dropping and changing dates.’’
While commending the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), for signing the Electoral Act as amended into law, Esele stressed that INEC should regard the new Act as an opportunity to improve on its processes.
“I think gradually with the Electoral Act, we are raising the bar for a fair electoral process. Hopefully, we will no longer have cases in court for years and courts will no longer decide our elections,’’ he said.
Speaking on amendments to the Constitution at the National Assembly, Esele opined that personal interests were involved.
He decried any attempt by the National Assembly to include an immunity clause for its principals in the Constitution as enjoyed by presidents, governors and their deputies.
Esele said while the Executive had a fixed tenure of a maximum of eight years at a stretch, lawmakers could remain in office for as long as they kept winning at the polls and should, therefore, not be entitled to Constitutional immunity.
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