Just In: ADC National Chairman, Dr Ralphs Okey Nwosu, sends strong message to NASS on Electoral Bill Law.
De Erudite Communications
July 5, 2021
By Osigwe Paschal S.
Since the agitation for the amendment of our extant law on election started a few years ago, the Nigerian National Assembly has been under pressure to promulgate a law that will fully ensure the integrity and fairness in our electoral system. This agitation later brought about the Electoral Amendment Bill, a bill that seeks to modify our electoral system and which will involve the transmission of results gotten from each pooling unit directly to the INEC database electronically before the results from the manual collation will follow later.
However, in a dramatic U-Turn, the national assembly has jettisoned the aspect of the electronic transfer of results in the new bill they finally came up with, and this has not gone down well with the Nigerian people and has generated different reactions from the people.
In the light of this trending topic of national importance, the National Chairman of the ADC party, Chief Ralphs Okey Nwosu has joined his voice to that of others already talking in condemning what people have seen as a stab in the back of Nigerian democracy. In his open letter to the National Assembly, the ADC chairman called out the lawmakers and accused them of creating electoral booby traps and creating windows that serve parochial ends.
The transcript of the open letter signed by the ADC national chairman and addressed to the National Assembly is given below.
“Open Letter To National Assembly.
“Your Excellencies, Senator Ahmad & Speaker Gbajabiamila,
“There has been a shocking revelation that the National Assembly has perfected to pass the Electoral amendment bill this week without the electronic collation element of the bill. This is truly shocking and absurd. This time when lawmakers are supposed to be deep in thoughts in creating laws to make Nigeria emerge as a strong democracy after 22yrs of democratic government, it is incomprehensible why the National Assembly should be building booby traps and creating windows that serve parochial ends. With over 200 million population, Nigeria should be strongly relevant globally and to our people. Not adopting the practices and attitudes that enhance best practices in laws and policies formulations demean our parliamentarians, the national assembly as an institution and reduce and limit us as a people.
“It is of utmost importance that we begin to build integrity into our processes. Things to bring value and credibility to our processes and help our democratic journey, development and maturity. We cannot continue living in falsehood and corruption. The beauty of democracy is people ownership, an endearing franchise that must be guided.
“Please put back the electronic collation of Results in the Electoral bill. And remove any clause that does not leverage the system. Let’s commit to building a transparent and resilient Electoral system for the good of our country and people. Creating rooms to facilitate election-rigging will only poison the system to a tragic end of our dear country.”
“Ralphs Okey Nwosu. National Chairman ADC.”
This is coming at a time when the NASS has witnessed criticism from many quarters as regards the recent laws they are working on passing such as Social Media Control bill, Hate Speech Bill, Fake News Bill and others.