The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN in an interview on Channels TV Politics Tonight, called on Political Office Holders to focus on the welfare of the people and not abuse public office for private gain.
Not sparing the Independent National Electoral Commission to Mr. Maikyau charged INEC to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 and demonstrate their compliance to the people order to earn public confidence. He stated that INEC must learn from the challenges faced in the Presidential and National Assembly elections. The President noted that delays in the supply of materials and deployment of personnel to polling units and INEC’s failure to instantaneously upload the results through their database as promised by INEC create an atmosphere of public distrust in the political process.
The NBA Don warned Elected Office holders saying “It is clear that the time of impunity is long gone. The time has come for the political class to recognize the interest of the people. Long gone are the days when they take advantage of the illiteracy of the Nigerian public.”
He encouraged Nigerians not to feel disenchanted but to consider the benefits and gains of the elections. He said “We should recognize what we have achieved in the last election and it should motivate us to come out and also determine those who become governors in our states and also those who would become members of the Houses of Assembly because those are the people who would be making laws for us.” “If anybody were to be emotional about the results, I have someone who is so dear to me that lost an election. I could have condemned the election on the basis of that alone, but I cannot close my eyes to the positives that we got in the election on the basis of my emotions because it is about the interest of this country and not about any individual.”
The NBA has deployed more than 1000 Accredited Observers from its 128 Branches to observe elections taking place across the Country.
On February 25, 2023, Nigeria held its seventh Presidential and National Assembly elections since the return to civilian rule in 1999. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress beat eighteen other presidential candidates to win the contest for the nation’s topmost political office.
The results of the Presidential elections are disputed by Peter Obi of the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
