INEC Urged to ensure Credibility of the 2023 Election.
Oru Leonard
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been urged by Stakeholders to ensure credibility and integrity of the 2023 general election.
The call was made in a communiqué issued Tuesday at the end of a one-day technical dialogue on the “National Integrated Global Competitiveness Strategy for Social and Economic Development”
The dialogue, organized by Fundacion Exito Ltd./Gte and Foundation Exito Canada (FEC), had the theme: “Nigeria in 2031–What Does Nigeria Need Now?”.
In the communiqué jointly signed by the Chairman, Board of Directors, Fundacion Exito, Chinenye Nwangwu, Founder/Director, Fundacion Exito, Dominic Obozuwa on behalf of others, the stakeholders also called on the National Assembly to initiate the process of amending the 1999 Constitution to ensure that candidates for elective offices are subjected to mental health checks to determine their sanity.
According to them, “There needs to be a constitutional amendment to ensure candidates for political office at all levels undergo verifiable Medical and Mental Health Tests/Checks because the health of the leaders is a critical element of optimum performance and competence to lead in any capacity.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must guarantee the integrity of the 2023 general election.
“Government at all levels must be clearly seen to be opposed to and regulatory of ethno religious dichotomies and sentiments to ensure national development regardless of politics and/or religion in addition to ensuring that religion promotes national growth and values”.
While noting that leadership performance and the lack thereof have been perpetrated by people indigenous to the different regions, not from outside, they emphasized that the time has come to vote someone not based on ethnicity or origin but on a clear vision, credibility, character, competence, and capacity to turn things around.
Furthermore, the stakeholders urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to quickly stem the ongoing national crisis as a result of the naira redesign policy to ensure it doesn’t snowball into a major crisis that could adversely impact the general election.
They also called on all candidates and their supporters in the forthcoming general election to embrace issue-based dialogue, eschew violence and promote peace.
The FEC is a Canadian not-for-profit working with Nigerians in Diaspora through community building and policy engineering.
(TSN)
