The Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria says a prompt overhaul of an electoral system that will guarantee credible elections nationwide remains a major task before the 10th National Assembly.
The LP deputy national chairman, Dr Ayo Olorunfemi made this remark in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Lagos.
He was reacting to a bill seeking a single term of six years for the president and state governors, brought up recently by 35 members of the House of Representatives.
The bill also canvasses the rotation of the presidency among the six geo-political zones of the country.
The 35 legislators, under the auspices of Reformed-minded Legislators, said both proposals would lead to a reduction in the cost of governance.
The spokesman for the group, Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere, added that the move would unite the country and ensure seamless power transition and promote the development of the country.
Reacting, Mr Olorunfemi said that though the six-year single tenure for the president and governor remained laudable, the priority should be on the reformation of electoral laws and guidelines.
According to him, this is much more needed than the proposed single-tenure rotational presidency.
“Our problem now is how to completely overhaul our electoral system through electronic voting and transmission of results real-time online,” he said.
Mr Olorunfemi said that the single term of years presidency was proposed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo but was misinterpreted as a third-term agenda.
“That was what Obasanjo wanted to do, and some people with bad intentions turned that into a third-term agenda,” Mr Olorunfemi added.
He urged the National Assembly to look into the process of appointment of judges and the chairman of the electoral commission.
The LP boss said that such appointments should be through a competitive selection process by professionals rather than by the president.
He said that the National Assembly should, at all times, pursue efforts towards deepening democracy.
(NAN)
