Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has called on the National Assembly (NASS) and all election stakeholders in the country to collaborate to ensure that the Electoral Act is amended and make it mandatory for all election litigations to be concluded before winners in elections are sworn into office.
CUPP, in a statement signed by its national co-spokesperson, Comrade Mark Adebayo, in the aftermath of the judgement of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday, stated that ,”The scales of justice may never be seen to be balanced for as long as we operate a system that allows people to be sworn into office before the cases that affect their election are done with in court.”
According to CUPP, “It is an incumbent and urgent assignment on the part of the National Assembly, civil society and all political stakeholders to ensure that the anomaly is rectified pronto.
“It is not only anomalous but clearly untenable for a party to a dispute to be enjoying the perks of an office still in legal contention, while the other party is left hanging in a limbo. It is anathematic to reason and the cause of justice for such a fundamental lacuna to subsist in our electoral and constitutional framework.
“It erodes trust in the system and the judiciary and allows for a free reign of dangerous speculations and voter apathy.
“It behoves on all of us who are stakeholders in Nigeria’s political space to ensure that this status quo doesn’t survive in our laws till the next cycle of general elections.
“We must work relentlessly together to amend this major ailment in our laws to make our democracy not only sustainable but to also be free, fair and credible.’’
