Preparation for the commencement of the Presidential Election Tribunal, yesterday, entered top gear as the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) re-echoed the colossal aberrations, which characterised the 2023 elections, describing it as a “show of shame”.
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President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, who painted some vivid pictures of how the electoral processes were violated, specifically said the 2023 elections witnessed what he described as “voting day executive rascality.”
Represented by the NBA second Vice President, Clement Chukwuemeka, at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) fifth round of MOVE Project and Review Forum on Human Rights and the 2023 elections situation room report, Maikyau noted that while election was made that citizens vote secretly, he noted that most legislators and members of the executive arm of government, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari, displayed how he voted.
“This is one of the offences of the Electoral Act. The worst of it all, was where a Nigerian is no more honoured or recognised as Nigerian. That is voters profiling. We witnessed it in general election, governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections. It is not only in Lagos but in some states.
“We saw how they carried out intimidation and we saw how they did all sorts of things but up till now, nobody has been called to account for such,” he noted, however, expressing confidence that, with the elections over and being contested at the courts, the judiciary would live up to expectations to right the wrongs.
He further said, “The elections, no doubt, has come and gone. The attention has shifted to the judiciary. As a lawyer, we are very optimistic that the judiciary will discharge their responsibility without fear or favour. That, I can assure because it remains the last hope of the common man.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Chief Tony Ojukwu, Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), said that the fifth forum would focus on “accountability for electoral crimes and human rights violations during and after the 2023 elections.
Ojukwu, who was represented by the Project Coordinator, Hillary Ogbonna, said it was styled to be a media event, where the media gets data and information that they would disseminate to Nigerians.
“That was why since February, the Commission had been publishing the dashboard of the human rights on elections,” he said.
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