Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to change the leadership of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The rights group advised government to advertise the leadership positions for interested Nigerians to apply and be thoroughly screened for the positions of chairman and national commissioners of INEC.
That way, Huriwa said, the commission would be able to conduct free, fair, transparent elections going forward, saying the present INEC could not deliver a transparent, corrupt-free poll because it could not give what it does not have.
HURIWA accused Federal Government officials that responded to the report of foreign observers, especially the report done by the European Union, of sabotaging the democratic interests of Nigerians.
The group urged Tinubu, who has achieved his lifetime ambition of becoming Nigeria’s president, to emulate statesmen, such as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo. by taking firm decisions to reform and unbundle the national electoral management body for the sake of posterity and for the electoral health of Nigeria.
It said: “If truth be told, the deliberate misconduct and crass electoral heists supervised by the current hierarchy of INEC almost pushed Nigeria into a state of civil war, but for the fact that the leading co-contestants with Tinubu, such as Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, are great Nigerian peace lovers, who prevailed on their supporters to maintain the peace and uphold rule of law.
“If those, who ran against Tinubu of All Progressives Congress were desperate for political power by all means, they could’ve very well mobilised their millions of supporters to set the stage for a massive political unrests, which may inevitably snowball into a civil war, all because of the gross compromise of the electoral system by INEC during the 2023 poll. If the present INEC stays on till 2027, then surely there may be national conflagration if they try to do what they did in last year’s poll.”
Huriwa, in a statement by its Executive Director, Emmanuel Onwubiko, added that shortcomings in law and electoral administration hindered the conduct of well-run and inclusive elections and damaged trust in INEC.
He stated that political will is crucial to achieving improved democratic practices in Nigeria and the EU stands ready to support Nigeria in the implementation of its recommendations.
