The former vice president said one of such recommendations, which would enhance the independence of INEC was the recommendation that the power to appoint the chairman and board of INEC be taken away from the president
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general elections, has said Nigeria must address electoral lapses that cause rigging of elections in the country.
Atiku, who is also a former vice president, said this in a statement released by his media office.
He said one way of addressing the lapses was to implement the salient recommendations of the National Electoral Reform Committee (NERC) headed by Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN).
He said the second was the creation of electoral crimes commission.
The former vice president said one of such recommendations, which would enhance the independence of the “supposedly Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)” was the recommendation that the power to appoint the chairman and board of INEC be taken away from the president and given to the judiciary.
He said Nigeria today faced a lot of challenges, chief of which was security and economic challenges, adding that to effectively tackle these, the government must have an honest and indisputable mandate.
“Obviously, the 2019 elections were several steps down from the 2015 elections in terms of credibility, and as a democrat, I am challenging that election in the right arena, the courts,” Atiku said.
“However, leadership does not just entail getting justice for the past. A real leader knows that in terms of justice, prevention is better than cure,” he said.