A Professor of Political Science, Babcock University, Adele Jinadu, has urged the Federal Government to implement the Justice Muhammad Uwais panel report for better electioneering in the country.
Jinadu spoke at the Abubakar Momoh Memorial Lecture with the theme, ‘The 2023 general election: Lessons learnt in preparation for Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo states off-cycle governorship elections’, at The Electoral Institute, Abuja on Monday.
The late President Umaru Yar’ Adua had on August 28, 2007, instituted a 22-member Electoral Review Committee, headed by Justice Uwais, to critically examine the electoral process and advise on areas that required reforms.
In its assignment of over one year, the committee received over 1,000 memoranda from the general public, while experts from Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Cote D’Ivoire, France, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Mexico, Niger Republic and South Africa, were invited to make inputs.
On completion, the committee submitted its report to the late President, but the Federal Government did not implement most of its recommendations.
However, Jinadu, who is also a member, Governing Council, TEI, stated that operational deployment of officials, materials and logistics for the elections had remained recurrent problematic features diminishing the credibility of the country’s electoral governance.
The don also noted that the deployment of technology “understandably added to concerns among INEC, stakeholders in the electoral governance process, the electorate, and the general public about the transparency of the elections and the readiness of INEC for the country’s 2023 general election.”
On that note, he advised that the FG needed to address “the anti-democratic diabolic politics and its facilitative toxic economic, political and socio-cultural environment that continue to diminish the feasibility of democracy and development in the country.
“The FG should adopt a strategic plan divided into short-to-medium term covering the 2023-2027 electoral cycle, to pursue, among other political reforms, outstanding electoral reforms recommended by the Uwais Electoral Reform Committee.”
Also, the Director-General, Independent National Electoral Commission, TEI, Sa’ad Idris, said the off-cycle elections are another opportunity for INEC to improve its processes.
Idris stated, “Consequently, the Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States Governorship Elections are yet another opportunity for the Commission to fine-tune its policies, processes and procedure towards achieving a more credible, transparent and acceptable electoral outcome, aimed at strengthening and deepening our democratic culture.”
