THE PATH TO NIGERIAs Dream Election BEGINS WITH YOUR VOICE. In its 1986 report, the Justice Bolarinwa Babalakin Commission of Inquiry into the Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO, that organised the 1979 and 1983 elections, concluded: “indeed, it can be claimed with a large measure of truth that rigging of elections has become part of our political culture.” 21 years later, in 2008, the Presidential Committee on Electoral Reform chaired by respected former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Lawal Uwais concluded that “the 85-year-old history of Nigeria’s elections shows a progressive degeneration of outcomes. Thus the 2007 elections are believed to be the worst since the first elections held in 1922.” Specifically, the Committee lamented that “impunity ... has marred Nigeria’s electoral process to date.” This is why elections in Nigeria which should be the set-piece opportunity for citizens to affirm their connection with the country and invest popular legitimacy in the direction in which the country should go, are undermined by violence and usually won by those who can wield it most effectively. As the Sheikh Lemu Report pointed out in 2011, “election violence is deeply embedded in the Nigerian political culture.” This is also why incumbents at the federal level are not realistically expected to lose: because they control the most potent instruments of violence. Thus, on the authority of the findings of official government inquiries and commissions, it can be said with considerable force, that the underlying premise of the right to participate in government: that citizens can confer or deny power or legitimacy through the ballot to those whom they choose to reward for good performance or punishment for bad, cannot, at the moment, be said to hold good. The complaint may be: Opposition groups are demanding for the presidential results to be deemed invalid due to allegations of fraud and ballot-rigging in various polling stations or Potential weaknesses in the upcoming elections include inability to curb violence and fraud at the polls, as well as concerns over a high number of spoiled/invalid votes, and the lack of sufficient funds for poll workers and materials at poll stations or There is also a problem in size of the ballot given that 30 political parties are contesting the elections. These are not issues for you anymore. The previous elections had shocked and shamed us but its time to effect a change. With our voice,We can. With our voice,We will. With our voice.We have. Join the change agents...Join VoYA TODAY! Olanrewaju Gideon, State Campaign Coordinator, Osun state. Voice of Youth Africa.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 23:06:51 +0000
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