By David Lawani
and Ben Adoga, Abuja
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has recommended electronic voting and and rotational presidency of six terms each for the six regions in the country, explaining that the reason is in line with the geo-political blocks which was a creation of the 1995 conference.
Abubakar made these recommendations when he addressed a world press conference yesterday at the Wadata House in Wuse Abuja.
He said the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should be given the democratic opportunity to elect for itself a mayor who shall emerge from the popular franchise, reiterating that these recommendations were part of the landmark reforms that were submitted to the military government that convoked the Constitutional Conference.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last presidential election who came second in the contest was speaking for the first time since the Supreme Court affirmed President Bola Tinubu as the duly-elected president in a judgment that has elicited reactions from Nigerians despite its finality of pronouncement.
He said: “One such headline recommendation was the concept of rotational presidency anchored on the principle of a six-year single term among the six geopolitical blocks. Even the notional idea of delineating the country along geo-political blocks was a creation of the 1995 conference.
“Another thematic recommendation at the conference was that the Federal Capital Territory should be given the democratic opportunity to elect for itself a mayor who shall emerge from the popular franchise. These two recommendations were part of the landmark reforms that were submitted to the military government that convoked the Constitutional Conference.
“However, and rather disappointingly, the government that midwifed the current democratic dispensation and enacted what is now known as the 1999 Constitution, expunged these two recommendations from what eventually became the body of legislation to govern our fledgling democracy.
“As for me and my party, this phase of our work is done. However, I am not going away. For as long as I breathe I will continue to struggle, with other Nigerians, to deepen our democracy and rule of law and for the kind of political and economic restructuring the country needs to reach its true potential. That struggle should now be led by the younger generation of Nigerians who have even more at stake than my generation.
“Firstly, we must make electronic voting and collation of results mandatory. This is the 21st century and countries less advanced than Nigeria are doing so already. It is only bold initiatives that transform societies.
“Secondly, we must provide that all litigation arising from a disputed election must be concluded before the inauguration of a winner. This was the case in 1979. The current time frame between elections and inauguration of winners is inadequate to dispense with election litigations.”
Atiku added, “What we have currently is akin to asking thieves to keep their loot and use the same to defend themselves while the case of their robbery is being decided. It only encourages mandatory banditry rather than discourages it.
Thirdly, in order to ensure popular mandate and real representation, we must move to require a candidate for President to earn 50% +1 of the valid votes cast, failing which a run-off between the top two candidates will be held. Most countries that elect their presidents use this Two-Round System (with slight variations) rather than our current First-Past-the-Post system.
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“Examples include France, Finland, Austria, Bulgaria, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar and even Liberia where a run-off is expected to be held in the coming days.
“Fourthly, in order to reduce the desperation of incumbents and distractions from governing and also to promote equity and national unity, we need to move to a single six-year term for President to be rotated among the six geo-political zones. This will prevent the ganging up of two or more geo-political zones to alternate the presidency among themselves to the exclusion of other zones”, he noted.
He added that INEC should be mandated to verify the credentials submitted to it by candidates and their parties and where it is unable to do so – perhaps because the institutions involved did not respond in time – it must publicly state so and have it on record.
His words: “A situation where a candidate submits contradictory credentials to INEC in different election cycles and the electoral umpire accepts them without question points to gross negligence, at best, or collusion to break the law by the leadership of the INEC, at worst.
“The submission of contradictory qualifying documents by a candidate as well as those found to be forged or falsified should disqualify a candidate even if the falsification or forgery is discovered after the person had been sworn into office.
“The burden of proving that a document submitted to INEC is forged should not be on the opposing candidates in the election. It is never the responsibility of an applicant for a job to prove that the person who eventually got the job did so with forged documents.
“In addition to these proposed constitutional amendments, the Electoral Act should be amended to provide that, except where they explicitly violate the Constitution and other laws, the rules and procedures laid down by the electoral umpire and made public for the benefit of the contestants and the voters will be treated as sacrosanct by the courts in deciding on election disputes.
“A referee cannot be allowed to set the rules for the game only to change or ignore them when one side has scored a goal or is about to win the match. We must restore confidence in our electoral system which the current leadership of INEC has completely eroded and undermined.
“Also, we need well-thought-out provisions in the legislation and regulations to reform the judiciary, including the introduction of an automated case assignment system; transparency in the appointment of judges; a practice directory that stresses that the goal of judges in election cases should be to discover and affirm voters’ choice rather than disregarding voters’ choice for the sake of technicalities.
“There should also be a publicly available annual evaluation of the performance of judges using agreed criteria. By improving the transparency of the electoral process and reducing the incentives to cheat, in addition to transparency in the appointment of judges and other judicial reforms.
“The number of election petitions as well as corruption in the judiciary will be significantly reduced. More importantly, we would have succeeded in taking away the right to elect leaders from the courts and return it to the voters to whom it truly belongs”, he stated.
Meanwhile, the APC has told Atiku to accept defeat as a statesman saying still bemoaning his electoral loss, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, earlier today, staged a press conference at which he delivered a long, windy, incoherent and preposterous speech unbefitting of a former Vice President.
Felix Morka,National Publicity Secretary All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement as part of the party’s reaction to the world press conference addressed yesterday, noted that In his foggy and contemptuous perspective, Abubakar said the Supreme Court “implies by its judgment that crime is good and should be rewarded.”
Morka noted: “ Atiku regurgitated his illusory claim that President Bola Tinubu did not win the February 25, 2023 presidential election. Rather, he soliloquized that they “showed irrefutable evidence of gross irregularities, violence and manipulations during the elections”, allegations that were roundly dismissed by the Presidential Election Petitions Court and the Supreme Court as unsubstantiated and unproven. Strikingly, nowhere in his long epistle of a press statement did Atiku state that he won the election, corroborating the courts’ finding and decision that he did not, in fact, win the election.
“It is delusional for Atiku, and his degenerate PDP, to have expected the courts to rely on their bogus, flimsy, unverifiable, uncorroborated, illogical and hearsay evidence to upturn an election that was conducted in substantial compliance with the Constitution and electoral laws of our land.
Thankfully, it does not lie in Atiku’s mouth to declare what constitutes “incontrovertible evidence”. That is the constitutional duty of the courts and which they have discharged honorably and creditably.
“For a serial election loser whose life ambition is to rule the country, we understand how pained and utterly distraught Atiku must be. However, to continue to deny and disrespect the collective will of Nigerians, disparage the judiciary, incite rage and call our democratic institutions into question is beyond the pale.
“Why is it so hard for Atiku to accept the popular choice of the electorate and the valid decisions of the courts? How is it that a man of his stature can be so befuddled to this disturbing level of election and judicial denialism? Would Atiku vilify the judiciary as he is doing had he won the election and been upheld by the courts as the winner?”.
Continuing, the APC NPS stated further:” Atiku, you are right that this is not and cannot be all about you. Yes, it is about our country Nigeria. Nigeria is greater than your unrealized ambition to be president. Nigeria must move and has moved on.
“Regrettably, you missed the opportunity of your press conference to redeem your prestige as an elder and statesman by rising above political pettiness and offering befitting congratulations to President Tinubu on his electoral victory. Rather than vindicate you, history will not forget your unwillingness to put the country first and above your personal political ambition”, he said.
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, to accept defeat as a stateman.
This was made known in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Feix Morka, reacting to yesterday’s press conference by Atiku in Abuja.
Atiku had stated that Nigeria is the biggest loser of the Supreme Court verdict, affirming President Bola Tinubu’s electoral victory.
He also hinted that he won’t go into political retirement as some people have advised him to do.
The statement read in part: “Still bemoaning his electoral loss, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, earlier today, staged a press conference at which he delivered a long, windy, incoherent and preposterous speech unbefitting of a former Vice President.
“It is delusional for Atiku and his degenerate PDP to have expected the courts to rely on their bogus, flimsy, unverifiable, uncorroborated, illogical and hearsay evidence to upturn an election that was conducted in substantial compliance with the Constitution and electoral laws of our land.
“Thankfully, it does not lie in Atiku’s mouth to declare what constitutes “incontrovertible evidence”. That is the constitutional duty of the courts, which they have discharged honourably and creditably.
“For a serial election loser whose life ambition is to rule the country, we understand how pained and utterly distraught Atiku must be. However, to continue to deny and disrespect the collective will of Nigerians, disparage the judiciary, incite rage and call our democratic institutions into question is beyond the pale.
“Why is it so hard for Atiku to accept the popular choice of the electorate and the valid decisions of the courts? How is it that a man of his stature can be so befuddled bya this disturbing level of election and judicial denialism? Would Atiku vilify the judiciary as he is doing had he won the election and been upheld by the courts as the winner?
“Atiku, you are right that this is not and cannot be all about you. Yes, it is about the country Nigeria. Nigeria is greater than your unrealized ambition to be president. Nigeria must move and has moved on.
“Regrettably, you missed the opportunity of your press conference to redeem your prestige as an elder and statesman by rising above political pettiness, and offer befitting congratulations to President Tinubu on his electoral victory.
“Rather than vindicate you, history will not forget your unwillingness to put the country first and above your personal political ambition.”
