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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has kicked against a proposal to hold general election in November, saying it would undermine governance in the country.
The ADC, in a statement by its interim national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said if a general election is held in November, it would set the country on a perpetual campaign cycle. This, the party argued, would be to the detriment of governance and development.
The National Assembly, as part of its electoral reform, is proposing an amendment to the Electoral Act 2022, to provide for the conduct of general election, about six months to expiration of the tenure of elected office holders.
Nonetheless, the opposition party admonished the parliament to jettison the idea and focus on “genuine electoral and judicial reforms that ensure credible elections and timely resolution of disputes without undermining governance stability.”
The party noted that the bill is intended to create more time for resolution of election petitions, before the swearing in of a new administration, the proposal will create more problems than it set out to solve.
It noted that, “by cutting the current political calendar by six months, the proposal threatens to push Nigeria into a state of permanent electioneering, where politics dominates governance and development is perpetually on hold.
“In practice, elections happening in November 2026 mean campaigns will begin as early as 2025. That leaves barely two years of real governance before the political noise takes over. The President, ministers, governors and other public officials vying for office or campaigning for others will shift their focus from performance to positioning. Policies will stall, projects will be abandoned and the entire system will tilt towards 2026 instead of 2027.
“Even without the amendments, we can see with the current APC government what happens to a country where an administration is obsessed with power rather than the welfare of the people. Even under the current timetable, the incumbent structures at the state and federal levels are already campaigning. In this regard, moving the elections backward will only accelerate this unhealthy trend and reduce our democracy to mere electioneering.”
The ADC argued that if the objective of the proposal is to ensure that elections petitions are concluded before swearing in, the solution lies in strengthening institutions and reforming the electoral laws, as well as improving the capacity of the judiciary and INEC.
“Other democracies have shown that it is possible to maintain fixed electoral timelines, while ensuring quick adjudication of disputes. In Kenya, for instance, the Supreme Court must resolve presidential election petitions within 14 days under the 2010 Constitution.
“Indonesia’s Constitutional Court decides similar disputes within 14 working days after hearing, while Ghana’s Supreme Court is required to conclude presidential petitions within 42 days. Even in South Africa and other democracies, electoral cases are handled through expedited judicial processes.
“As these examples have shown, the amendment that we need is the one which ensures timely electoral justice through institutional efficiency, not by altering the election calendar to accommodate inefficiency.
“Changing the date of elections without fixing the underlying weaknesses in our electoral matters adjudication and other fundamental electoral weaknesses will not solve the problem. Countries that manage early campaigns effectively do so with firm institutional safeguards,” the ADC posited.
The party contended that Nigerians are not merely voters, but citizens “who expect good governance as dividends of democracy. Nigeria cannot afford a system that allows the government to campaign for two years and govern for two.”
Source: The SUN
