Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for urgent amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act to end manual accreditation, transmission, and collation of election results, warning that Nigeria’s democracy risks further decline unless far-reaching reforms are implemented.
In a statement personally signed by him, Atiku, who served as Nigeria’s Vice President from 1999 to 2007, urged that provisions of the law be strengthened to mandate the exclusive use of technology, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of results, with no room for discretion by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The envisaged electoral and judicial reforms will return the power to the people to choose their leaders and not a conclave of interested parties,” Atiku said.
He noted that although the enthusiasm of Nigerians in the ongoing continuous voter registration exercise is commendable, voter registration alone is insufficient without robust reforms to safeguard electoral integrity, promote judicial independence, and strengthen public confidence in the process.
Over time, he argued, the quality of Nigeria’s elections has continued to deteriorate.
He cited the 2023 general elections, in which out of 93.47 million registered voters, only 24.9 million participated in the presidential and National Assembly polls, representing just 26.72 per cent turnout, the lowest since the return to democracy in 1999.
“Something needs to be done to check this slide if citizens are to continue to have an appetite for the democratic process and the prospects that it holds,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President stressed that issues surrounding BVAS, electronic transmission of results, and other related matters must be constitutionally and legally entrenched, rather than left to the interpretation of judges.
Quoting Prof. Chidi Odinkalu’s book The Selectorate: When Judges Topple the People, Atiku warned: “Judges, once constrained arbiters of electoral disputes, have become increasingly unconstrained in determining who holds power, shifting legitimacy from voters to the courts.
“In some cases, this influence has extended beyond the courtroom, creating a system where a small, connected elite decides leadership under the cover of legal process.”
To this end, Atiku outlined nine key reforms he said must be included in the Electoral Act.
These include mandatory use of BVAS for accreditation and results upload, compulsory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iREV), and collation of results at all levels strictly on the basis of electronically transmitted results.
“At no point shall manual accreditation of voters, transmission of results, and collation of results be allowed,” he declared.
He further proposed that the positions of INEC Chairman, Resident Electoral Commissioners, and National Commissioners be subjected to democratic voting by the people, rather than presidential appointment.
Atiku also called for a reversal of the burden of proof in election petitions, insisting that INEC, not petitioners, should be required to demonstrate substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and the Constitution in the conduct of elections.
“These reforms, if implemented, will ensure that the will of the Nigerian people, and not the decisions of a few, determines the outcome of elections,” he said.
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