By Aweng Akim

akimaweng38@gmail.com


In 2007, after being elected President, Umaru Musa Yaradua, embarrassed by the polls that  brought him to power and prominence, mocked the process by calling it a farce. In his quest to fixing the process, he constituted a 22 man electoral reform committee, headed by the former chief justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammed Uwais. Part of the committees terms of reference was to evolve a practical roadmap to laying a solid foundation for the growth and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria.


15 years later President Muhammadu Buhari on the 25th of February 2022 at exactly 12:25pm, after 5 separate vetos has put pen to paper, in what many have termed "Birthing a new electoral era" and has proved the nay sayers wrong. The president had promised to leave a legacy through signing this bill into law, and happily he has fulfilled his promise after so much back and forth. This is victory for Nigerians and our nascent democracy. 


Many thanks to National Assembly who worked tirelessly to make this a reality through their prompt response in fixing the grey areas raised by the President on direct primaries and other matters, also the issues of cross refrensing raised by CSO's was addressed too, timely. The labour wasn't in vein.


This bill, now law will address the issues of electoral malpractices, thereby insuring all votes count. The president in his speech noted that it will revolutionize the process of elections through the use of technology, and improve clarity and transparency which will reduce acrimony by displeased candidates and political parties. He also described the bill as informative and progressive. 

Sadly there was another hiccup in Section 84 sub section 12 which he revealed was in conflict with the constitution. An amendment is non negotiable.


Though many will question the fact that this process will actually be revolutionized because of the nature of the systems in Nigeria especially our constitution, we can have solace that the issues of ballot snatching and announcing of results under duress will become old story. 


This is a big deal to young people because we constitute most of the voting population, thereby allowing us to be the deciding factor in the true sense of the word. 


PMB has done his part, let's do our part by getting our PVC's and ensuring we vote because every vote counts.