#EndSARS: Group seeks electoral reforms

voting

Richard Elesho/Lokoja

A group, Peoples Life Improvement Foundation, PLIF, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to seize the opportunity offered by the ongoing #EndSARS protests to implement electoral reforms in the country.

The group which has declared support for the protests, blamed the bad leadership bedevilling Nigeria on a fraudulent electoral system which does not allow people’s votes to count.

As a possible resolution to most of the agitations by the youths in their protests, the group challenged the National Assembly and the presidency to immediately sign in to law the amended electorate act to bring about good governance.

This was contained in a statement that was signed and issued by the National Publicity Secretary of the group, Ngoama Waekite Wem.

“We have summed up the totality of prolonged bad governance in Nigeria which has ruined the country and have come to the conclusion that our electoral system is the sole reason why the country is in this miserable and undone state.

Wem insisted that it is bad leadership that has led to all of the present tension. He noted that protesters have the right for a peaceful demonstration.

“And the root cause of it is where the people are not given the freedom to exercise the power of their individual Immortal Voters card to select their leaders.

“Therefore, we are calling for the Electoral Act Amendment which is the beginning to the end of these problems and will allow real people to choose and vote their next leaders with no one writing the results of our elections again.

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“Let our country’s electoral process be electronically done. Let there be Biometric Accreditation of Voters, Electronic Voting, Counting of Votes and Results transmission.

The group also advocated for the establishment of the 4th Tier of Government called the Ward/Community Government alongside the FG, State Govt and LGA.

“Let every Ward/Community have their budget to treat their peculiar issues. This will foster Freedom, Peace and Prosperity as every individual community will be self-developing simultaneously.”

He said the fourth tier of government will be more responsive to the rural people, where the people can monitor and seek explanations on issues all the times.

“A tier of government that can improve the rural economy. This will further create more jobs in our communities and reduce the migration of our teeming youths into the urban centres.

The group declared full support for the protests. “It is in this regard that we support the protest and proudly say that the protest had not recorded any incident of looting that has characterized protests like this even in some civilized countries.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with the patriots who are dissatisfied with the government having maintained constant vigilance has come out in the most civilized manner to alert the world calling for justice, fairness, political stability, security and peace.

“It is clear that the Nigerian youths are not only protesting against police brutality and extra-judicial killings alone, but in reality, a variety of longstanding political and economic problems that had pushed the Nigerians state towards instability, insecurity, poverty, destitution, decayed infrastructure etc.

“We also wish to state in categorical terms that any harsh response from the authorities will only make the situation worse! This has happened at other times and we should work hard to avoid what happened in the Dara province in Syria in 2011.”

The PLIF is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization set up for the deepening of democracy and improvement of the lives of Nigerians.

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