The Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Yesom Wike has called for the building of strong institutions for our fragile democracy to thrive. He lamented the illegal activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police in conduct of elections in Rivers state and stressed that the so called democracy in Nigeria is in great danger if there are no strong institutions to support it. Photo: Getty.
In his words: "Unfortunately instead of advancing our democracy and protecting our liberties , some of our most important national institutions especially, Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigeria Police have become the undertakers of their destruction by acts of deliberate compromise, partisanship and even sabotage in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.
How else can we attribute INEC's misfeasance and criminal complicity in the emerging but strange jurisprudential contraption in election disputes, where fake results produced and procured from the custody of terribly partisan police agency were validated and accepted as evidently superior to its own results by the electoral tribunals to overturn the returns it genuinely and rightly made in respect of the outcome of the 2016 legislative re-election returns in Rivers State".
The Independent National Electoral Commission has just announced the time table for 2019 national elecions. There is urgent need for reforms to strenghten our democratic institutions to guarantee inclusiveness and transparency and accountability.
We have always argued that we can only enjoy the dividends of democracy if relevant institutions remain truly independent of the government in the conduct of elections so that ordinary people can elect their true choice. As long as these vital institutions remain under government control, it will definitely be very difficult to conduct a free and fair elections without unnecessary interferance.
We have always argued that we can only enjoy the dividends of democracy if relevant institutions remain truly independent of the government in the conduct of elections so that ordinary people can elect their true choice. As long as these vital institutions remain under government control, it will definitely be very difficult to conduct a free and fair elections without unnecessary interferance.
What's the point of an election if the votes don't count?
Uche Okeke.
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