“I would have expected the president of the country to have signed that electoral bill; it would have made some high level of improvement in our electoral process. But the man said he is not going to sign it, asserting that election is so near. So, we are going back again to 2010 where we are being manipulated in electoral process," he said.
Monday Ubani, former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the electoral bill will make the 2019 elections prone to manipulation.
He stated this at the 15th edition of the Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture/Symposium organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (Ikeja branch) on Tuesday at the Macke Hall, Airport Hotel, Ikeja in Lagos State.
“I would have expected the President of the country to have signed that electoral bill; it would have made some high level of improvement in our electoral process. But the man said he was not going to sign it, asserting that election is so near. So, we are going back again to 2010 when we were being manipulated in electoral process," he said.
Ubani also maintained that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the parameters of independence.
“INEC is not independent. Ordinarily, if INEC was independent, prior to the election or four years before election, INEC should have the money with which it would conduct the election. It doesn’t have to be handicapped for funds. Few weeks before the elections and INEC does not have the funds it needs, simply indicates that INEC is not independent," he said.
He noted that the lack of funds will make the commission resort to seeking funds through other means, thereby making it subjective to the source.