Opinion
Electoral Bill testament to electoral process — Osinbajo
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the electoral bill now in the works is testament to the administration’s commitment to improving Nigeria‘s electoral process. the National Association of Law Professors. The conference, with the theme “Law, Democracy and Electoral Process”, was held at the University of Bayero, Kano (BUK).
He said that democracy and social justice were vital structures required for nation building because the search for justice is at the core of the search for a better society. According to him, the legal profession must maintain its integrity and ethos, since it is one of the axes on which civilization rests. Osinbajo said that democracy and social justice were closely linked.
“Our society must be governed by law and not by the whim of man. “As law professors and legal practitioners, we are custodians of this truth.” However, democracy cannot endure without social justice”, he said, noting that “the search for justice lies at the heart of the search for the good of society”.
“This makes the legal profession one of the cardinal vocations on which civilization rests; in fact, the law is an instrument of peaceful social engineering, whose goal is justice. “When based on this postulate, it follows that the law, and therefore democracy, are intended to serve beneficial social ends.
“A society in which an increasing number of people consider themselves alienated from legal institutions or perceive that these legal institutions are incapable of dispensing justice for all and cannot be stable and prosperous”. The vice president said that without social justice, legal justice is ultimately unattainable. justice also refers to the social and economic rights of people. He said that these rights, according to the Constitution, include the right to food, housing, employment, education and a reasonable national living wage, care for the elderly, pensions, unemployment benefits and welfare for the disabled. physical. “The degree to which citizens are in possession of their social and economic rights has a direct impact on the degree of their access to legal services and, therefore, to justice.
“Our concern as legal teachers and practitioners, therefore, must extend beyond the courtroom, beyond the precincts of our legal institutions, to the social reality in which these structures exist. “Many of our institutions are still in their infancy, and we must carefully guide them toward maturity; we recognize that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
“The electoral bill now in the pipeline is testimony to the administration’s commitment to improving Nigeria’s electoral process. “The bill itself has been the subject of strong engagement between the government and civil society. While some have expressed reservations about the time it takes to enact the new law, we must remember that a truly inclusive, democratic, deliberative process often takes time.
“I am confident that the legislation that emerges will be one that reflects a broad consensus among all stakeholders,” he said.
Subsequently, the Vice President paid a condolence visit to the family of the kidnapped and murdered Kano student, Hanifa Abubakar, in Yankaba, Dakata Junction, on Hadejia Road, Kano. Osinbajo, who was accompanied by the governor, Abdullahi Gantuve, some members of the National Assembly, including Senator Kabiru Gaya, among others, were received at the residence of the murdered schoolgirl, Alhaji Abubakar A. bdulsalam. During the visit, prayers were offered for the deceased.
The Vice President expressed his condolences on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, himself to the family, especially the deceased’s mother, Murjanatu, and his father. In response, Abubakar expressed his gratitude to the president. and to the vice president for the visit and condolences to his family for the murder of his daughter. Abubakar called Osinbajo’s visit an honor for his entire family and prayed for God’s blessings for the president, the vice president and for peace in the country.
“I am quite speechless, I do not have enough words to quantify my joy and gratitude for the visit of the vice president to my family to give me condolences. As I told you, it should be the other way around, the vice president is our father; we’re supposed to go and visit him, not have him come to us. “However, I am grateful, I am sincerely honored.
“The only thing I will say is to pray for him and for the whole nation, that peace reigns, “he said.
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