Jega noted that the people have lost trust in the electioneering
process and it might be fuel for the disintegration of Nigeria.
Prof. Attahiru Jega, a former chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, has called for more action to prevent the
breakup of Nigeria before the 2023 elections.
Jega said this while speaking at the Tell Magazine’s 20 years of
democracy conference on Wednesday.
Jega noted that the people have lost trust in the electioneering
process and it might be fuel for the disintegration of Nigeria,
TheCable reports.
He said: “The CIA thought that 2015 was the do-or-die period for
Nigeria, that there would not be a Nigeria in the way you know after
the 2015 general election – that has come to pass. But I think if we
do not take care, a lot of these predictions will come to pass that is
why we need to do quite a lot, much more than we have ever done in
order to protect the integrity of the electoral process before 2023.
“The clearest evidence of this loss of trust and confidence is
declining voter turnout in elections since 1999.
“For example, people have argued that in 2015 the generalized
insecurity was a result of the activities of Boko Haram have been
responsible for the low voter turnout regardless of the improvement in
the electoral process.”
Jega, questioning the postponement of the 2015 and 2019 elections won
by the All Progressives Congress, said there was very low voters’
turnout in the 2015 and 2019 elections attributing it to the lack of
trust in politicians.