National secretary of the African Democratic Congress, Rauf Aregbesola has proposed that political parties with at least five lawmakers in the national assembly should nominate individuals to lead the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The former ministerof Interior led this out on Monday during a panel session in Abuja, themed “Innovation in Electoral Technology 2015–2025.The former governor of Osun State noted that Nigeria’s electoral system cannot command public confidence unless reforms begin from the appointment of the INEC chairman.
He added that involving political parties in the nomination process would ensure fairness and reduce the likelihood of manipulation.
Aregbesola said: “The issues involved in Nigerian elections are not as simple as we are putting them. From the appointment of the chief electoral officer, that’s the chairman of INEC, and all the commissioners to all the issues involved, we know we know.
“We pretend as if we don’t know, we know they don’t even inspire confidence. So we must start from there. We must start from how do we appoint people who should pretend this process in the first instance.
“And I would say outright, we must review that to inspire confidence. And now, what is my suggestion? It’s so simple.
“Let parties with at least five members in the National Assembly nominate people that will be at the helm of affairs in INEC on equal basis.
“It’s as simple as that. That solves all the issues. If the parties now depict themselves to allow one of them to run away with it, fine.
“A situation where the principal beneficiary of manipulation nominates who she has INEC has sincerely dictated what will happen.
“There is no issue about that. We’ll be grandstanding in deceit. We’ll keep on pretending that technology is as good as the possible technology.”
