PBA ReporterPresidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President of Nigeria, on Thursday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to seize the opportunity provided by the 2023 general elections to prove its non-partisanship.
Atiku in a signed statement also asked other agencies of government playing roles in the 2023 electoral processes to jealously guard their integrity and ensure that outcomes become the actual reflection of the desires of Nigerians.
The world marks Democracy Day on every September 15. The former Vice president seized the opportunity to draw attention to Nigeria’s political and democratic landscape as the country inches closer to important elections next year when President Muhammadu Buhari would have completed eight years in office, having won elections twice since 2015.
Atiku and two other major candidates – Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have been at each others throat even as electioneering campaigns will officilly begin on September 28, according to the electoral umpire – INEC.
Recent pre-campaign polls by Prime Business Africa, a leading multimedia company, and ANAP have both put the Labour Party candidate in a comfortable lead over the two major candidates.
Tinubu’s ruling APC and Atiku’s main opposition PDP, have both faulted the polls insisting that they were Social media-driven and insensitive to the fact that only about 30 percent of Nigeria’s voting population are digitally active.
According to Atiku, the ”celebration of democracy is, indeed, a celebration of the people’s power,” even as he observed that Nigeria’s electoral processes have witnessed significant improvement as seen in Osun State’s off-season gubernatorial election recently. “…The 2023 episode is an opportunity for INEC to show that the commission has grown beyond partisanship,” he noted.
“In 2023, Nigerians will be voting for the leadership that they truly believe will lead this country out of the current dire situation and it is important to use the opportunity of the celebration, this day, to tell not just the INEC but other agencies and non-governmental organisations involved in the conduct of election that the next election should be the freest and fairest ever in the history of Nigeria.”
“Good governance is the ultimate end game. And the democracy that we practice is the only veritable vehicle that can drive us safely to the establishment of a government that will give us good governance and ensure that the rule of law is entrenched in our body politic,” Atiku said.
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