2027: National Assembly not giving Nigerians hope of free polls

By Madu Obi

Participants at the South East regional conference on information narratives for the 2027 general elections in Awka, Anambra State, have identified loopholes in the preparations, noting that the most worrisome is that the National Assembly is not giving Nigerians any hope for free and fair election.

The conference, organized by the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD West Africa), drew participants from the Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Persons Living With Disabilities, the academia, Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, women organizations, traditional institutions, National Orientation Agency, NOA, the media, among other groups.

According to them, the National Assembly has even worsened the situation by expunging from the Electoral Act, the issue of certificate verification for candidates contesting election at a time the argument on the uncertainty of real time electronic transmission of election results was still raging.

The action of the federal lawmakers, they observed, will worsen the voter apathy as the confidence of the people in the system is being dampened.

They said: "The question is, what message do we want to send out to Nigerians? If you feel the pulse of the people, you'll know that most of them are angry and what the National Assembly has done will add to the voter apathy in 2027.

"If they have allowed that real time electronic transmission of results, people's confidence in the system might be growing. For them to remove it, the job of National Orientation Agency has even been made more difficult as that body would look for something else to convince the voters that the election will be free and fair.

Most of the politicians who opposed real time electronic transfer of results to the IREV, for instance , did so because of personal gains, and not because they didn't know that electronic transfer is the best. They know that if technology is adopted, many of them who are there won't return".

Anambra State secretary of IPAC, Eminent Uzochukwu recalled that the council objected to the new electoral act and urged the National Assembly to accommodate the views of the people.

"These politicians are a minor group of people, but they are holding Nigerians to ransom. If people's vote count, then the 2027 election won't have any problem.

Also , if those voted for do their work well, more people will be willing to vote and that will reduce voter apathy. There is need to kill the already built apathy and the ad hoc staff who know that they will be compromised, should not accept the job", he said.

The Director of CDD West Africa, Dauda Haruna said that for the 2027 election to be successful, all hands must be on deck, adding that " when participation is compromised, democracy is compromised.