The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to first admit that the system that enthroned him was flawed and therefore should reform it to especially whittle down the powers of the president and governors.
The national chairman of the party, Falalu Bello, who made the call on Wednesday evening while addressing the media at the party headquarters in Abuja, said the president and governors are too powerful, such that they do whatever they want and tend to undermine democracy.
He said Nigeria’s democracy is threatened under the current arrangement, adding that if reforms are not carried out, it is just a matter of time before it will crumble.
He advised that the Justice Muhammed Uwais Report on electoral reforms should be adopted.
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Bello said, “Notwithstanding the declaration of President Bola Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly elected President of Nigeria and the affirmation of same by the Supreme Court, the PRP believes his election and most of the other elections in 2023 were tainted with so many irregularities.
“For these reasons, the president is being challenged to write his name in gold in the annals of our nation’s democratic history, by doing what late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR did with the presidential election of 2007 which brought him to power.”
He insisted the implementation of the 2008 Justice Uwais Report holistically would guarantee the independence of INEC; change the election mindsets of Nigerians responsible for violence in elections, rigging of elections; and build lasting democratic institutions and culture.
Bello also said INEC should be unbundled and by constitutional provisions be made independent, non-partisan, impartial, professional, transparent and reliable as an institution.