During an interview with Arise News TV, Adewole Adebayo, former SDP presidential candidate in the 2023 Nigerian general election, said, “When David Mark received the ways report, he threw it away, and he spent eight years in the Senate without enacting that law.”
He made this comment while answering a question about INEC: Do you think they’ll be able to provide a credible election come 2027?
He said, “I don’t think they are aiming towards that. You have to be sure first that that’s what they are aiming towards before you can see whether they can do it. A person who is not willing to go to work will not be productive because he’s not even willing to go. It is a question of what the rest of us have to do. Remember that the INEC chairman did not appoint himself; he was appointed by the president, and I’m not sure free and credible elections are top of his priority. Not only that, the president did not act alone.”
According to him, “There’s a Council of State where all the former leaders and critical experienced people in the country approved it without any question. And he went to the National Assembly representing all Nigerians, and they approved the appointment without question. So it looks to me, therefore, that there was not so much uproar. Even some of the people who are now campaigning against the chairman…”
He further stated: “If you go back just a few months and read the news, you will see that they were praising the appointment. They were saying, ‘Yeah, wonderful guy,’ and all of that. Then, as time went on and they realised he’s not getting along with them, they realised that they need to criticise.”
He added: “So we have blown the opportunity to choose a free, fair, and credible INEC. If we wanted to do that, we would have done the Uwais panel. The chairman of ADC, for example, was the Senate President at the time Justice Uwais submitted that report under President Yar’Adua. When David Mark received the Uwais report, he threw it away, and he spent eight years in the Senate without enacting that law. So a lot of the opportunities for free, fair, and credible elections have been lost. It’s like those that were initially antagonists of a sound electoral draft have now become the victims.”
He concluded, “Yeah. Because at that time, the poor elections, the rigged elections, favoured them, and they assumed, like the president is assuming now, and the APC people, that they would always be in the saddle forever, which is silliness. So at the end of the day, right now the only people left who can ensure free, fair, and credible elections are the politicians themselves, the media, the voters, and law enforcement. But I think that opportunity has been lost already.”…..See More
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