The institution and election mgt in Nigeria need a complete overhaul – Moghalu

Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and presidential candidate of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in the 2019 presidential election, has called for a complete overhaul of the institutions and election management body in the country.

Moghalu made this statement on Friday via his official Twitter handle, insisting that it was the only way the country could purge itself of electoral fraud and bad government.

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The former CBN deputy governor praised the zeal most Nigerians, especially the youths, showed in participating in the process of electing the country’s leaders at both the presidential and national assembly levels shown at the February 25 election.

He, however, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of subverting the people’s will through its refusal to use the BVAS and iRev to transmit the results of the election.

His tweet reads, “My take on the election outcome:
1. Without prejudice to whoever would have won, @inecnigeria ‘s performance was woeful. The institution and election management in Nigeria need a complete overhaul. Elections must be made logistically efficient and transparent.
“2. The 28% turnout, being even lower that the 34% of the 2019 election, is deeply disappointing. This phenomenon needs a separate interrogation to understand why it happened when 87 million voters collected their PVCs.
Such voter turnout levels undermine the meaning of democracy.
“3. Kudos to the youth of Nigeria who turned out enthusiastically to vote for their candidates. You have altered the trajectory of politics in Nigeria, whatever disappointments you may have with the process or the outcome notwithstanding.
“4. There’ll be legal fireworks from the candidates aggrieved at the outcome. That is their right, and no one should begrudge them that. I salute them all. Meanwhile, @officialABAT ‘s first statement was quite statesmanly. He reached out to his opponents and to Nigerians broadly.
“5. It is early days post-election. I reserve further comment except to say that Nigeria is now officially a 3-party dominant system, with @NgLabour and @PeterObi’s frankly impressive performance as a first time presidential candidate. He should build on it.”