The Senate has assured Nigerians that the Electoral Act would be amended in June this year as part of efforts to reduce electoral violence in the country.
This comes as political gladiators gear up for the 2023 general election.
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan who gave the assurance on Tuesday, disclosed that the amendment would provide for an Electoral Offences Commission, charged particularly with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offenders.
Conducting transparent election
Fielding questions from journalists after delivering a lecture at the National Defence College Course 29 Programme in Abuja, he said that the piece of legislation when passed and signed into law would, among other things, empower the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to conduct transparent elections.
“This is going to be a continuous effort because electoral violence is largely a product of either genuine or misinformation of iniquity or some kind of conspiracy against certain persons during elections.
“Our intention in the National Assembly with this is to further sanitise the electoral environment, and empower the election management body, INEC, to conduct seamless, transparent and very open sort of election where a winner is very happy that he is a winner and a looser will be glad that he lost in a very fair contest,” Lawan stated.
The Senate President attributed the challenges faced by the Nigerian government to various types of discoloration from conspiracies woven around political, ethnic and religious sentiments.
Strategic leadership
He, therefore, admonished Nigerian leaders to deploy strategic leadership tact needed for the realisation of developmental initiatives that accommodates the national interest.
Lawan said; “Unfortunately, almost every issue you bring in Nigeria would rather have or would be given political, ethnic, geo-political or religious coloration.
“So, it makes governance tough. It gives leadership massive challenges because such colorations complicate the issues…This is an opportunity for me to appeal to all of us in political leadership that our responsibility to the people of Nigeria must remain the one and only critical factor for taking decisions.
“The national interest must override any other interest because it is the interest of the majority of the people of the country. If we do that, chances are that we will always get it right.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
