2023: March words with action, CDD challenges Buhari

Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Idayat Hassan, has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari not only to talk tough about guaranteeing that 2023 election is free and fair, but to also match his words with action, by signing the electoral bill into law.

It would be recalled that President Buhari declined to sign the amended electoral bill into law three consecutive times, when the 8th National Assembly presented it for his assent, citing its closeness to 2019 elections.

But the same President has, this time around, vowed to guarantee an atmosphere for free and fair elections in 2023.

The director, who spoke to The Guardian in Abuja said: “I think we should be happy that he is talking tough. What we expect from him is making the electoral process work. I belong to that school of thought, and that is what the people really want from him.

“After the Kogi and Bayesa election, while people were calling for outright cancellation, we said, ‘No, President Buhari must take leadership, because he was a beneficiary of a credible electoral process in 2015. If the electoral process were flawed the way it has been in the last few years after he took up the mantle of leadership, he would not have been able to unseat an incumbent President. 

“So, talking tough is good, but matching it with action is what is important. We had the late President Musa Yar’ Adua, who came and acknowledged the fact that the process that brought him was flawed, and immediately set up the Uwais Panel to review the electoral process.”

She said when President Jonathan came on board; he took some of the committee’s recommendations, which his administration worked with, though not the entire recommendation was taken.

“So, if President Buhari means business, he should start with the electoral amendment,” she said.