Senator Seriake Dickson has expressed the need to sanitise the electoral system in Nigeria which he said will reduce the growing number of election related litigation and restore people’s confidence in the process.
Dickson, who represents Bayelsa West in the Senate, spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, disclosing that the National Assembly has started move to amend the electoral law.
“First of all the electoral law is important and we have started, I mean the electoral amendment committee,” Senator Dickson said.
“We are undertaking a comprehensive review once again of the electoral law to underpin the conduct of free and fair election, to reduce litigation, contest, challenges and disaffection as you saw now even in the Supreme Court venue, people not accepting the verdict of the Supreme Court.”
Electronic Voting
The lawmaker also made a call for the introduction of electronic voting in the country’s elections to reduce human interference which according to him gives rise to manipulations.
“What we need to work towards in this country in a nutshell and we are trying to build a consensus in the National Assembly, I don’t know whether we will succeed, but we are making some progress, is how we can have electronic voting where you will reduce human interference that gives rise to manipulation, inducement, intimidation and all of that.
“And fortunately there is technology. In 2015, a sitting President Jonathan in the national interest and in our party had the love of the country and our democratic survival enough to say use card reader; that was a major leap,” he said.
He lamented that the Federal Government under the All Progressives Congress (APC) has not been able to build on the progress made in the use of technology in Nigeria’s elections in the last eight years.
“In the party in government, they haven’t really shown that desire to see that we sanitise electoral process, and most importantly now at the level of national leadership, to put the interest of the country above their personal interest and the interest of their party by actively promoting and supporting the application of technology.
“And if that happens, before 2027, we should have a situation where we should have deployed technology and the technology is available, other countries are doing it,” Dickson said.
Change of constitution
Recently, the Patriots led by former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Emeka Anyaoku, asked President Bola Tinubu to convene a national constituent assembly to produce a new draft constitution for the country.
Senator Dickson also gave his full backing to the call by the Patriots, saying that a constitutional review or reform is at the root of most of the challenges Nigeria has as a country.
“It is a national imperative, it is the kind of constitution we have that has reduced our capacity to be productive. It is the nature of the constitution that has given rise to the ineffective grassroot administrative system, the local government system that we have,” Dickson said.
He added that it t is the constitution that has created the situation that has resulted in having an over-bloated and overloaded centre.