Atiku calls for electoral, judicial reforms amidst ongoing voter registration
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the ongoing voter registration exercise will only be meaningful if accompanied by far-reaching electoral and judicial reforms. In a post on his social media handle, Atiku lamented the declining quality of elections, citing the historic low voter turnout during the 2023 polls. According to him, issues surrounding the […]
Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the ongoing voter registration exercise will only be meaningful if accompanied by far-reaching electoral and judicial reforms.
In a post on his social media handle, Atiku lamented the declining quality of elections, citing the historic low voter turnout during the 2023 polls.
According to him, issues surrounding the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), electronic transmission of results, and other associated matters must be addressed to ensure they are fully enshrined in law, rather than left to the discretion of judges.
Quoting Prof Chidi Odinkalu’s book “The Selectorate: When Judges Topple the People”, Atiku, who has resigned his membership of the PDP, warned against the creeping influence of the judiciary in determining political outcomes.
Atiku outlined reforms he believes are necessary to restore confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system. These include an amendment to the 2022 Electoral Act to provide for the mandatory use of BVAS for accreditation of voters and upload of results from polling units and collation centres nationwide, with no discretion for manual accreditation.
He also called for mandatory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iREV), with no option for manual transmission.
He further called for the collation of results at ward level to be strictly based on results electronically transmitted to iREV, with no allowance for manual collation.
Finally, he proposed that the appointment of the INEC chairman, resident electoral commissioners, and national electoral commissioners be subjected to democratic voting by the people. His proposal mirrored a similar call by former President Goodluck Jonathan, who recently argued that changing the process of appointing the INEC chairman was necessary to enhance the commission’s credibility and strengthen public trust.