The Bishop of Kaduna Diocese, Church of Nigeria(Anglican Communion), Bishop Timothy Yahaya said for a credible election to take place in Nigeria, the Federal Government must hands off the appointment of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission that will superintend the 2027 general poll.
According to Yahaya, that is the only way to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in the country.
He said the position of Anglican Bishops was that rather than the government appointing INEC Chairman, civil society organisations be allowed to do so.
Bishop Yahaya also decried the slow pace with which elections petition tribunals were moving, noting that in other climes election matters were being tackled before the swearing-in ceremony would take place.
The cleric spoke with newsmen on the occasion of the Third Session of the 22nd Synod which was held at St. Stephen, Anglican Communion, Sabo Tasha, Kaduna on Sunday.
He said, “I am not comfortable with the speed of the Election Petition Tribunal and that is why in Synod if you get our Bishops’ presidential address, we have suggestions on the issue of elections; number one, no INEC chairman should be appointed by the government anymore.
“We should ask civil society organisations to come together and charter how we can get an INEC chairman. Number two, we must make sure that nobody is sworn-in in this country except elections cases are terminated.
Therefore, in Synod, we suggested that if the presidential election takes place, in six weeks, all matters that have to do with the presidential election cases should be terminated.
“We did an election in February and we are still in the preliminary stage of the matters of the elections. The same thing for the National Assembly since February the election was held. As if there is something wrong somewhere.
“Number three, we want to ensure that electronic voting is the in thing because it will reduce the corruption in INEC. The amount of money we used in conducting the elections is huge. India for example has a population of one billion, go and check how much they use for elections.
He added, “How many are we Nigeria, 200 million people and we are spending money that is triple that of India? Something somewhere is wrong.
“Another suggestion we have is that all the Justices and Judges that are serving must never be taken to head election petition tribunal. We have retired Justices and Judges, they should be used together.
“For 180 days, all civil litigations, crimes and civil litigations are always holidays until the tribunal is finished with its assignment. What kind of a country are we in? When you delay someone’s justice for 180 days, it is justice delayed, justice denied. This is our suggestion to the government.
“They should make sure that there is a total overhaul of the electoral process so that the people can have confidence in this country. When an election takes place and it is over, everybody will be satisfied. And even if you are not satisfied we will know that it is because of your greed that you are not satisfied.
“But when elections are over and people are suspecting whether there is hanky-panky or not, and things like that, it doesn’t help this country, even in the eyes of the international community.”
Credit: The PUNCH
