Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the federation, says
the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has done enough to support the
development of electoral process in Nigeria.
Malami, who spoke as a panelist at a citizens’ town hall on
electoral reforms organised by YIAGA Africa, said Buhari is committed to
electoral reforms.
Describing the electoral process as a system that is
evolving positively, Malami said there is room for more improvement.
He said the current administration is collectively trying,
as much possible, to enhance the quality of the system by way of empowering
INEC, building capacity and ensuring that sanity, accountability are brought to
bear through legal framework, judicial intervention or executive intervention.
He said the Buhari administration has allowed for the
independence of INEC and also respected the decisions of the judiciary.
Citing Zamfara as an example, he said INEC, as an umpire,
reserves the exclusive right to determine the constitutional compliance of a
political party in terms of fielding a candidate
“I think the major attribute of consideration is the
sustenance and the independence of INEC as an electoral body in terms of
effective discharge of its duties and responsibilities as an umpire within the
contest of an election process,” he said.
“We are all living witnesses to what happened in Zamfara for
example. That in its own right, INEC as an umpire reserves exclusive right to
determine constitution compliance of a political party in terms of fielding a
candidate. For the first time as well, the judiciary is accorded the desired
independence in terms of judicial determination of cases that are associated
with political processes.
“In essence, within the process of establishing INEC as an
electoral umpire and the independence of the judiciary in determining cases
with judicial undertone, I think it is only fair or that the conclusion
justified that the government; that we have indeed supported the evolution and
development of electoral process and have done enough for the purpose of
enhancing it.
“And again, it is not correct to conclude that this
administration has not supported the evolution of the electoral process.
“So we have indeed supported a collaborative action that
will see to the advancement of the judiciary. So the question is not the
existence or otherwise of an executive bill but whether indeed the executive
has done enough for the purpose of enhancing the evolution of electoral process
within the context of assenting to laws that will now enhance the quality of
delivery.
“Within the context of ensuring that the independence of
INEC and the judiciary, with the purpose of ensuring that at the end of the
day, there is due consideration and compliance associated with electoral laws.
I think we have indeed, as an executive, supported the evolution and
development of the electoral system and process.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com