Allow clerics, others to appoint INEC officials, youths urge N’Assembly

The Youth-led Electoral Reform Advocacy Consortium (YERP_Naija) has charged the National Assembly to rework the 1999 Constitution for a special committee to take over the responsibility of appointing Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

The youngsters, according to their submitted proposal, observed that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Jama’atuNasril Islam (JNI), Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), among other stakeholders, should play a key role in appointing the INEC chairman and RECs, noting that the move would dislodge political influence in the entire process.

YERP_Naija is a coalition of youth-focused non-governmental organisations, coordinated by the Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), working to elevate the voices of Nigerian youths in electoral reform discussions.

While the project is supported by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the consortium engages with young people from all the six geo-political zones and the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to advocate critical reforms in Nigeria’s electoral system.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, Head of Research and Programmes, KDI, Oluwafemi Adebayo, advocated that renowned religious leaders, lawyers and other stakeholders should be involved in the selection committee to ensure credibility and fairness.

Stressing the need for the President to be stripped of powers of appointing the INEC chairman, the proposal recommended the “creation of a special selection committee with non-partisan people of impeccable character to assume the responsibility held by the President to appoint the Chairman, National Commissioners and RECs of INEC.”