Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, expressed concern that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is facing difficulties in conducting credible elections due to the appointment of members of political parties as Resident Electoral Officers.
Falana, discussed the recently appointed INEC RECs confirmed by the Senate, some of whom were alleged to be affiliated with political parties.
He noted that, “Successive regimes in Nigeria, Yar’Adua’s regime, Jonathan’s regime, and Buhari’s regime have all set up electoral reform committees or panels to make recommendations that will assist the government to have credible elections.
“In the case of President Tinubu as a leader of the CAN, he set up a committee for electoral reforms to campaign for the implementation of the recommendations of the Uwais Panel and one of them is that we must have independent umpires in every material particular.
“You can’t have a card-carrying member of a political party or a loyalist of a political party to be a Resident Electoral Commissioner or a national commissioner; you complicate the problem for INEC to have credible elections,” Falana said.
Following the appointment of 10 new RECs for INEC by President Tinubu, Civil Society Organisations and some other Nigerians raised alarm about some of the appointees, who were said to have political affiliations, asking the Senate not to confirm them.
However, the Senate confirmed all the nominees as RECs.
Falana, who said three of the appoints are members of the All Progressives Congress while one is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, condemned their confirmation by the Senate.
Falana called for the legal challenge of the appointment of three other RECs, and he emphasized that if the courts determine these appointments are illegal, Senate confirmation cannot legitimize them.
