Ikechukwu Obiorah, former senator representing Anambra south
Ikechukwu Obiorah, a former senator, has proposed a constitutional amendment to strip the president of the power to appoint the chairman and commissioners for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Obiorah, who represented Anambra south between 2007 and 2011, also proposed that state governors should be stripped of the power to appoint officials of the state electoral commission.
In a statement on Sunday, the ex-senator said he had submitted the proposal to the senate and house of representatives.
Obiorah’s proposal must be adopted by a member of the national assembly before it can be considered.
He said that the majority of the polls in Nigeria since 1999 have been marred by electoral malpractices, noting that there is a need for change in the process.
“Since independence, 90 percent of all elections – parliamentary, presidential, national assembly, governorship, house of assembly, and local government council elections – have been brazenly stolen or rigged or perverted or altogether thwarted or nullified,” the statement reads.
“In other words, Nigerians have never really and voluntarily chosen their leaders, nor have Nigerians ever been governed with their proper consent and participation.
“The absence of honest elections makes ours a fake democracy.
“In Nigeria, the simple but painful cause of stealing and rigging of elections is that those vested with power to appoint the electoral bodies and personnel were themselves or their political parties or their preferred candidates’ contestants in the same elections. It is just like making a person a judge in his own case.
“However, by virtue of the 1999 constitution, the power of appointing the state electoral bodies responsible for conducting local government elections was transferred to the state governors.
“Consequently, the world has been witnessing the Soviet Union-style results declared from Nigeria’s local government elections, where the governor’s political party, in most cases, scores 100% victory.”
The former lawmaker proposed that the powers to appoint officials in electoral bodies at the federal and state levels should be vested in professional and labour organisations.
“I do also propose that the new INEC be composed and constituted by thirteen commissioners, six of whom would be elected by the underlisted six Nigerian labour and professional organisations, and six commissioners nominated by the United Nations and one commissioner nominated by Transparency International, totalling thirteen commissioners,” he said.
“The new INEC would have the power to elect and remove its chairman and hire and fire all staff, including the chief executive officer.
“The election of six commissioners by the underlisted Nigerian labour and professional organisations is arranged in a corresponding alphabetical order as follows:
“The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics would elect one commissioner out of its members from the north-central geopolitical zone.
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities would elect one commissioner out of its members from the north-east geopolitical zone.
“The Institute of Chartered Accountants would elect one commissioner out of its members from the north-west geopolitical zone.
“The Nigerian Bar Association would elect one commissioner out of its members from the South-east geopolitical zone.
“The Nigerian Medical Association would elect one commissioner out of its members from the south-south geopolitical zone.
“The Nigerian Union of Journalists would elect one commissioner out of its members from the south-west geopolitical zone.”
Medicine after death. Why didn’t you make this proposal while you were still serving. Hypocrite