GOV. UGWUANYI APPLAUDS ELECTORAL REFORM

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has blamed the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria’s democratic experiment on inability to conduct free and fair elections over the years.

Ugwuanyi said this on Monday in Enugu when the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee led by Sen. Ken Nnamani paid him a courtesy visit. The Governor said that it had become imperative to put in place a robust electoral act that would take would engender peace and stability in the polity.

 “It is a well known fact that our inability to conduct free and fair elections had impacted negatively on our efforts to deepen democracy over the years. 

Necessary reforms must, therefore, be carried out to resolve all the issues required to be carried out to promote peace and stability in the country,” he said.

Chief Ugwuanyi commended the committee for giving the South East zone the opportunity to express their views on how to entrench credible, acceptable, violence and rancor free election in Nigeria.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Ken Nnamani said that the exercise was aimed at making elections more efficient, effective and less expensive. Senator Nnamani said that President Muhammadu Buhari had on Oct. 4, 2016 inaugurated the committee in keeping to his promise of strengthening the country’s electoral system.

“Most people are asking why another electoral reform panel is being set up when that of Justice Uwais has not been implemented.“Though Uwais did a fantastic job but some areas of that report require panel beating and dynamic approach to capture some incidents in the system. For instance, that report did not take into consideration what happened in Kogi State not too long ago,” he said.

Senator Nnamani said that it had become needful to address some obsolete electoral laws, adding that the committee had been working in clusters and behind the scene.

“There is no constitutional requirement for public hearing but it has become conventional that no group has monopoly of knowledge. That is why we have come to seek the ideas of the public.”  

 The former President of the Senate said that the South East zonal public hearing in Enugu was the first of seven of such that would hold across the country.

CHUKWUMA EZEOGU