The Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, has said the country can not enter the 2027 general election with the kind of distrust most citizens have in the electoral institution—the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
Nwankwo, who stated this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, said the ongoing Constitution review by the National Assembly, with electoral reform as one of the thematic areas, will address the challenge.
The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review consultant said one of the reforms being pushed is the issue of election petition litigation.
“The proposal is to get congressional elections to have only two types of election litigation; the National Assembly just keeps it at the election petition tribunal and the court of appeal. And then the proposal is also to have the presidential election go straight to the Supreme Court for adjudication,” Nwankwo said.
According to him, the proposal regarding elections also includes ensuring that all elections occur on the same day and that everything related to election petitions is concluded before anybody is sworn in.
“Those are the major proposals that we have at this time that the National Assembly is considering.
And if that is passed, we will never have staggered or off-cycle elections.
“…There is also the issue of ensuring that you do have a situation where the leadership of the judiciary takes extreme action against judges who abuse the judicial system,” the constitutional lawyer said.
Speaking on other proposals, he said: “What I also see as very interesting is the devolution of powers, and that proposal says the state should take the taxes and levies that belong to the state…
That is why the issue of local government reform arises. Proposals on how to do this and devolve more powers, even to local governments, are being made.
“There is also the whole issue of financial and fiscal independence around the country. Who has powers? Who has resources around the country? So, there is a lot of conversation about this. And when the tax law comes into effect in January, many issues will still come up. And those who have proposed the tax law need to prepare for the consequences of the implementation of the tax law next year. I do not believe it will be a piece of cake. It will be a significant issue as we go into 2026.
“But also, just to mention that the issue of defection is also one of the issues we have considered here. If you defect from the party that gave you the platform to run elections, it constitutes gross misconduct. As you know, gross misconduct is a crime that requires a call to legislators or impeachment of executive or legislative officials.
“I cannot end without making the point that this National Assembly should also note, and I speak as someone who has advocated this for a very long time, that the bill on special seats for women is a defining bill, and that it needs to be taken very seriously in the 10th Assembly.
“The recurring question of local governments and state creation requires a lot of education. Now, I’ve seen a lot of demand for state creation. I’ve seen a lot of demand for local government creation. And those who are agitating for states, and we’ve got to speak, I have talked to this publicly. Those who are agitating for states are putting the cart before the horse.
“The first stage is not to put in a request to the National Assembly. The first stage is that those making the demand for a state need to sign up for it and get a referendum to be adopted. When that referendum approves it, it goes to the National Assembly. None of these state creation requests has started.”
