Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said that if democracy must be sustained, the democratic process must be strengthened to develop in a way that people will have confidence in the electioneering processes.
In a keynote address he delivered during a Lecture/Book Presentation to mark the Second Term Inauguration of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike in Port Harcourt, Jonathan stated that despite the challenges facing the country, it must embrace electronic voting.
He stressed that no single official should have the power to constitute all the Election Petition Tribunal as according to him, it erodes confidence in the system.
He said: “The Judicial Process where one person constitutes all the election tribunals to hear petitions is not right. It is difficult in a democracy for somebody to be extremely neutral.
“In one way or the other, somebody close to you will be in one party or the other. The only way to be above is to make sure that one person does not have all the powers to constitute tribunals to listen to all cases”, he said.
Jonathan explained that the African Continent must come up with a minimum standards for the establishment of the Election Management Body.
He said that for the purpose of confidence building for credible elections, no one single person should have the power to constitute the Election Management Body.
According to him: “We must come up with new standards for constituting our election management body in a way that people will have confidence. I believe in some Quarters what they do is that a body of people constitute the Election Management Body. It is not in the hands of one person.
“When you leave such responsibility in the hands of a politician, no matter how good the person is, there will be the tendency for people to suspect that the right thing is not done. When people don’t have confidence in the system, whatever they do, it is difficult for the people to accept “.
He added: “The continental body , African Union, should come up with a minimum standard across Africa for constituting Electoral Management Body “.
The Former President also called for the enthronement of independent security agencies that will provide security during elections.
Jonathan decried the online video in Rivers State where women were dragging soldiers attempting to compromise election.
“The African Union must come up with a code of conduct for security operatives that participate in elections.
“What happened in Rivers State, in a video being circulated where women were dragging soldiers down from walls was a very sorry sight. When these things are being discussed outside the country, if you are a Nigerian, you feel so ashamed “.
The Former President called on Parliamentarians to work towards modifying National Laws to ensure that what happened in 2019 is not repeated in 2023.
The Rivers State Governor, in his address, decried the level of politicisation of Nigeria’s governance process .
According to him, Nigeria’s problems, which are largely self-inflicted, can be reduced to two: the politicization of everything and pervasive injustice.
Wike noted that over the years, politicians have allowed the entire governing system to be corrupted by banal politics and the courage to do what is right and fair to all parts of the country had since departed.
Continuing, he said: “As a result, we are increasingly become insensitive or rather impervious to the injustices and the horrific happenings in our country that have reduced our humanity. ”
Governor Wike said that insecurity continues to thrive in the country because the nation has refused to listen to the cries for Justice.
He said: “In our case, everyone is crying out for justice and because we as a nation have blocked our ears and hearts to the deafening cries for justice, peace has become a rare commodity in our country. a rare commodity.
” My take is that we are going nowhere as a country; we will continue to run round in circles and possibly crash-land in a very hard way unless we change our narratives about justice because peace or peaceful co-existence cannot be decreed in a multi-cultural society such as ours, or in any society at all. It is only a real sense of justice that can command and guarantee enduring peace, patriotism and solidarity in Nigeria”.
