Ahead of the passage by the National Assembly the 2021 Electoral Bill which seeks to overturn the 2010 Electoral Act as amended, the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has asked Nigerians to prevail on the National Assembly to do the wishes of the people, especially on the transmission of election results electronically.
CTA also raised the alarm that the National Assembly intends to increase election expenses by 1500 percent, particularly for presidential elections, despite citizens’ wishes that the initial one billion naira be cut to allow for more inexpensive campaigns.
In a statement made available to newsmen Monday in Abuja by the CTA’s executive director, Faith Nwadishi, said if the bill is passed women and young persons will be disenfranchised due “highly monetized and affordable to only the rich” process.
“This provision will inadvertently promote vote trading during elections.
“We are worried that the National Assembly seems to be more interested in reforms that will benefit them instead of improving our elections and the integrity of the electoral process across the entire electoral value chain.
“The members of the National Assembly are accountable to Nigerians and therefore, the aspirations and wishes of Nigerians must subsume any parochial or selfish interest.
“The National Assembly must not be seen as sabotaging the efforts of the Election Management Board by making laws that are retrogressive, unproductive, negative and retards the growth of Democracy.
“The Centre for Transparency Advocacy are in support of having a strong INEC that will conduct a free, fair, and credible elections that will stand the tastes of time.
“We equally, call on citizens, patriots, the civil society, students, religious and traditional leaders to prevail on the National Assembly to do the wishes of the people.”
