By Henry Umoru – Abuja
CTA the Centre for Transparency Advocacy, an Observer group has called on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to walk the talk on his riot act to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and the Police to engender a free, fair and credible electoral process without fear or favour. The CTA has challenged President Buhari to match his charge with action and show truly, that his talk would be a reality by implementing his directive during the upcoming offseason elections and especially, the governorship election in Edo state this year.
In a statement Friday by the CTA Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi, the group said that if the order of the President must be achievable in all its ramifications, the Electoral Umpire which is INEC must be allowed to be truly independent, adding that Operational budget of INEC must be treated as priority by both the Executive and the National Assembly to enable the Commission to prepare for elections and discharge its mandate with less constraint. The CTA has also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, reintroduce the Electoral Act amendment bill as an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for urgent passage into law to effect positive changes that would improve the electoral process. The group said, ” President Buhari as a statesman should sign the Act into law as soon as passed by the National Assembly timeously. This is key to electoral reforms and achieving credible elections in Nigeria.”
According to the Observer group, the time has come in the nation’s political atmosphere for President Buhari to have a second look at the Justice Uwais electoral reform Committee report and implement it without further ado against the backdrop that majority of Nigerians what is implemented as it would help improve the electoral process immensely.
