…lambasts APC ‘for lacking internal democracy’
Allen Harry & Tony Tomiwa, Abuja
A member of the National Assembly, Senator Cleopas Moses, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to put its house in order ahead of the 2023 general elections, warning that it cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians in its conduct of the forthcoming polls.
The lawmaker said that in 2023, Nigerians would be expecting an improvement in the conduct of the polls in which the choice of the people will be respected.
Senator Cleopas, who currently represents Bayelsa Central Senatorial District in the Senate, stated this during an exclusive interview with First News in Abuja.
He noted that in the recent past, faulty electoral processes had thrown up bad leadership, which had affected the development of the country and made the electorate to develop apathy towards elections.
According to him, “The platform for a free and fair election primarily depends on the electoral umpire, which is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). And you know that there has been a lot of controversial elections, which should be blamed on INEC.
“INEC as an institution needs to wake up. There’s the need to conduct elections that are without question marks. People need to have confidence in the electoral process to be sure of the kind of leadership that will emerge.”
Senator Cleopas also expressed optimism that electronic transmission of results would help to curb incidents of election malpractice like changing and manipulation of results.
He said, “If election results are not transmitted electronically, especially in remote areas like Koluama in Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State, where I come from; that is close to the Atlantic coast, there will always be a way to manipulate it.
“For instance, from my community to Yenagoa, the state capital, it’s two hours by boat. To Oporoma, my Local Government headquarters, it’s one hour by boat. So, if results are not transmitted electronically, between the wards that results are collated, to the constituency and Local Government collation centres, anything can happen to those results if they are in hard copy. Anybody can intercept it on the river or on the road and mutilate the results or rewrite it.
“It is on the basis of this that we (National Assembly) are interested in electronic transmission of results. All the views canvassed in the electoral amendment are issues we believe, as a National Assembly, will improve our electioneering process. If we get it right electorally, responsive governments will get into power; that will consider the interest of the people.”
The lawmaker, who is also a former Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, took a swipe at the All Progressives Congress (APC) for what he described as the absence of internal democracy within the ruling party.
He added, “The APC is struggling to conduct their National Convention. As their national caretaker committe chairman will always say, they have issues with some states. So, a situation that they cannot conduct state congresses tells a lot about the crisis in their midst. The PDP conducted peaceful state congresses.
“Clearly, there is no internal democracy in their party. Internal democracy is a function of how the political parties conduct their affairs, like the selection of candidates for election. The issues affecting the APC and other parties can tear them apart and that is why the PDP is different. The issues that can easily scatter other parties cannot scatter PDP.”