Hamzat canvasses decentralisation of election process

*Laments cancellation of 21,000 votes in Surulere
Owing to the challenges faced in collating election results, the Lagos State deputy gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Kadri Hamzat, has called for decentralisation of the election process.

While speaking to journalists at the Independent National Electoral Election (INEC) office, Yaba, Lagos, yesterday, Hamzat decried the situation where people were made to wait endlessly for election results across the country because of poor collation processes.

Hamzat, who had been at the INEC office since Sunday, described the experience as punishing.

“The experience is punishing. Collation is taking too long. Why will people be here for two to three days without result. I think we should improve greatly on that. We must do something fast to change that narrative. It is harrowing,” he stated.

According to him, there is need for a post-mortem of the entire process if the country must move forward.

“My own belief is that we should decentralise elections in Nigeria. Why are we printing papers from Abuja alone and sending it to other zones. Let each zone or state produce its own election materials.

“Centralisation is expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming. The budget of INEC is bigger than the budget of the ministry of works and housing; so how can we develop as a country. We need to act fast on that, if we must move forward.”

Reacting to claims that some results were cancelled, especially in Surulere because of some irregularities and troubles in the zone, Hamzat said: “The will of the people is prevailing, except for some areas where there are issues.