The All Nigeria Peoples Party [ANPP] received with interest the news that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega said elections in the country after 2015 should be held same day, as staggered elections were costly. We are encouraged by this welcome development, though we wonder why we should wait till 2015 to start reaping the benefits of this historic electoral policy. In any case, this is a pointer that our vision of free and fair elections are about to become a reality. With free and fair elections, the problems faced by our great nation shall be solved and we will begin to excel.
It is on record that our great party, under the leadership of Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, was the first voice to call for all elections to be held in one day. We have maintained that this will save cost and guarantee better participation. For instance, some people that may only want to vote for a particular presidential candidate during the presidential election alone, will now be made to join in voting for the legislative members because the whole voting holds on the same day. As we can testify, when massive number of citizens turn out to vote it will be very difficult to rig or manipulate the process. Moreover, it will also erase the problem of bandwagon effect that always dogs the electoral process, and threatens the stability of the polity.
Furthermore, we wish to use this opportunity to call on the National Assembly to also consider our other suggestion on how to achieve free and fair elections as it amends the Constitution. We want a situation where after elections all matters concerning the electoral litigation and court cases would have been solved and concluded before swearing-in. We envisage that this will stop all the bad-blood, and unnecessary advantage endowed on the incumbent as they are predisposed to use the resources and powers of Government to executive their electoral litigation, thereby provoking strife in the political space.
Finally, let it be known that our aim is to lead the nation away from politics of personality to issues-based and ideas-driven politics as is obtained in many developed democracies that we envy. As a party, we believe that Nigeria has all it takes to become the giant we are destined to be.
Signed:
Hon Emma Eneukwu
National Publicity Secretary
ANPP
13-12-12
