Following the signing of the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Accord Party, has charged Nigerians who are of voting age to seize the opportunity to register and acquire their voters cards.
The party, in a statement signed and issued on Tuesday by its National Legal Adviser, Barrister Maxwell Mgbudem, stressed the need for them to reciprocate the President’s goodwill, warning that “if the voter apathy witnessed in the last Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT is repeated in 2023 general elections, the objective of initiating and having the new Electoral Act would be defeated.”
According to him, the new Electoral Act will revolutionize the process of electing leaders at various levels of government, adding that it “will herald an era of competent and credible leaders who will emerge through a transparent voting exercise, hence the votes will begin to count.”
He identified the conduct of primaries, campaign expenses, use of technological devices in elections, electronic transmission of results, review results declared by an electoral officer under duress as some of the reforms introduced that will ensure the credibility of elections in Nigeria.
The party chieftain commended the innovative provisions in the Electoral Act which he said has addressed the shortfalls that have inhibited credible elections in the country.
Specifically, Mgbudem, who is also the National Vice Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, said the President’s assent shown that he was determined to advance the course of democracy in the country.
He said: “Signing of the brand new Electoral Act less than one year to general elections, can be adjudged as the best legacy the President can bequeath Nigerians.”
Mgbudem, therefore, commended the National Assembly for working with the President to achieve the feat, saying the will of the masses must be held as sacrosanct if Nigeria should get it right in her political evolution and development.
To this end, he hailed Nigerians for their patience, the IPAC, Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, the media and other stakeholders for sustaining the pressure on both the executive and the legislature to ensure that a new Electoral Act is passed and signed into law.
The IPAC Vice Chairman, while expressing confidence that the 2023 general elections will be credible, however enjoined the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to swing into action to make the best out of the new Electoral law.
Though he said that INEC has proved beyond doubt its capacity to deliver a credible election in 2023, Mgbudem charged the security agencies to cooperate with the chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, to ensure that there is a peaceful general election in 2023 to enthrone a leadership that can engender progress, unity and economic development.
