Revisit Uwais report on electoral reforms, group urges Buhari

A coalition of human rights organisations under the umbrella of Consensus Peoples Rights Foundation (CPRF) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Uwais electoral reform panel as a basis to create a new election management body in the country.

The group made the call at its maiden colloquium in Lagos yesterday to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, acclaimed to have been won by the presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), the late Chief Moshood Abiola.

In a keynote address, the Convener of the Foundation, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, said the recommendations are sufficiently intellectual and technically credible and positive enough to help Nigeria conduct elections that can meet with international best practices “if enacted into law.”

Opadokun, who is also the Convener of Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER), a body formed to campaign vigorously for the enactment and adoption of the Uwais recommendations, said the call was imperative because, “since Professor Attahiru Jega, the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) left office after the 2015 general elections, “all that we hear now is inconclusive elections.”

He said: “This unfortunate development is because the Nigeria state has rejected the highly credible and comprehensive recommendations of the Justice Muhammed Uwais electoral reform panel.”

Another speaker and President, Nigeria Voters Assembly, Moshood Erubami, warned that no matter how perfect any reform is, with a wrong attitude, every effort towards achieving credible election in the country would come to naught.