Nigerian lawmaker, Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah, has submitted a constitutional amendment bill to the National Assembly seeking to remove the powers of the President and state governors to appoint members of the Independent National Electoral Commission and State Independent Electoral Commissions.
He argued that these powers should be transferred to a neutral body to ensure electoral integrity and initiate processes capable of lifting Nigeria out of poverty.
The proposed amendment, which is currently before both chambers of the National Assembly, is aimed at addressing what Obiorah described as the persistent absence of honest, transparent, free, and fair elections in Nigeria—an issue he linked to the country’s ongoing poverty and underdevelopment, according to Independent.
In a document titled “The Philosophy of Elections and Nigeria’s Fake Democracy”, which he shared with journalists in Abuja on Sunday, Obiorah—who represented Anambra South Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011—made a case for overhauling the electoral system.
He claimed that more than 90 percent of elections held in Nigeria since independence have been manipulated or rigged, contributing significantly to the country’s economic and social challenges.
Senator Obiorah stated: “Since Independence, 90 per cent of all elections, parliamentary, presidential, National Assembly, governorship, House of Assembly, Local Government Council elections, have been brazenly stolen or rigged or perverted or altogether thwarted or nullified.”
“In other words, Nigerians have never really and voluntarily chosen their leaders, nor have Nigerians ever been governed with their proper consent and participation,” he added.
The former senator believes that if Nigerians had been allowed to freely choose their leaders since 1960, the country would by now have achieved full development comparable to first-world standards.
