By Perpetua Onuegbu
Yiaga Africa, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) says attitudinal change among politicians is critical to achieving credible elections in the country.
Mr Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on in Abuja.
“Attitudinal change among politicians is the most critical electoral reform Nigeria needs.
“There should be a fundamental shift in the behaviour of politicians toward politics and this will radically deepen the integrity of elections.
“The zero-sum nature of politics and the do-or-die attitude drives Nigerian politicians to undermine and capture democratic institutions and circumvent electoral rules with disdain.
“Politicians should demonstrate commitment to democratic values and respect the will of the people as an act of patriotism and dedication to nation-building,” Itodo said.
He urged the judiciary not to succumb to such politicians’ which could lead to miscarriage of justice and subversion of people’s will.
“We should strengthen the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory, including the upload of polling unit level results and results sheets used at different levels of results collation.
“There is also need to resolve all the ambiguities in the results collation and transmission process and outline the role of technology in the results management value chain.
“We should also establish the principles and introduce timelines for the mandatory conduct of testing and mock exercises for electoral technologies deployed by the electoral commission.
“We also urge the review of the requirement for voter identification to increase citizens participation in voting,” he said.
The CEO of Yiaga said with the successful introduction of the BVAS, meant that the Electoral Act should be amended to permit the use of other legally acceptable means of identification.
“They should apply to voter verification in addition to the already produced Permanent Voters’ Card (PVCs). Other means of identification can be incorporated.
“This includes driver licence, international passport, national identity card, electronically downloadable voters’ card from INEC website and any other means of identification as may be determined by INEC.
Itodo also advocated that timeframe for the disposal of appeals on pre-election and election petitions should be reduced from 60 days to 30 days.
He advanced that appeals on pre-election matters related to National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly should terminate at the Court of Appeal. (NAN)