Electoral Act will guarantee preparation for 2023 elections, says Onaiyekan

• Flays FG on fuel crisis
The Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has said that the new Electoral Act will make it easy for the country to prepare for the 2023 general elections.

He, however, wondered why it had to take street protest to get President Muhammadu Buhari assent to the bill in such a manner as if he was doing Nigerians a favour.

Onaiyekan, while speaking with journalists during the dedication of the Holy Cross Catholic Church, Gwarinpa II, yesterday in Abuja, said it is the responsibility of the President to sign the Electoral Bill, adding that there is no need congratulating the President for doing what he ought to do.

The cleric stressed the need to put in place things that would make elections in the country better than before. He said: “We are so used to things being done badly that whenever anybody does the right thing, it will be like something has happened that we have never heard before. It is the duty of the President to sign the Electoral Bill. He had seven years to do it. We had to embark on street protest before he finally signed it as if he was doing us a favour. He is not doing us any favour; it is his duty to sign it. I don’t think I am one of those who will congratulate him for doing a good thing.”

The cleric said that the persistent fuel crisis in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country was a mystery, adding that it is not possible that millions of litres of bad fuel are allowed to fill the country and nobody has so far been held responsible.

“There are too many things you cannot understand in this country and you don’t hear the truth. It is part of the Nigerian situation that things are not working well. Our country can be better than this. Somebody should be held responsible,” he added.

Also speaking, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama, urged the Federal Government to act promptly and stop the ongoing fuel scarcity.