Laolu Akande, a former aide to Ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu needs to openly admit that Nigeria’s electoral process requires fixing, like the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua did.
Recall that the late Yar’Adua had admitted that the 2007 election that brought him in was flawed.
Akande also said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should make more efforts to restore public trust.
The Labour Party and its presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi had alleged that INEC failed to timeously transmit election results as promised.
But the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal ruled that the commission was not compelled by the Electoral Act to transmit results electronically.
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Commenting on the issue on Channels TV, Akande emphasised the need for electoral reforms.
He said, “We have seen in this election that we were promised that we would have the report (results) on the IREV although the law didn’t say so.
“So (that is) why INEC has been able to explain to the justices and said that look we are not compelled by the law to transmit the results.
“So INEC still has the work to do to try and rebuild the trust and they ought to be at the fore front of pushing of reform.
“The president himself at the end of the day ought to also come out just like President Yar’Adua did to say that look I understand that we have to fix the electoral process and I think a lot of what we should do at the end of the day is to come back and look at the reforms.”