Date Published: 05/11/09
PRESS STATEMENT 11TH MAY 2009
STATE OF THE NATION
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties {CNPP}, in a quarterly meeting held at Kaduna on Sunday 10 th May 2009, resolved as follows:-
1} to support the move by Nigeria Labour Congress, TUC, Civil Society Organizations and all progressives forces to conduct peaceful rallies across the country starting tomorrow. We call on all our members to join this patriotic move to improve the welfare of Nigerians workers, as this will be a prelude to halting the monumental corruption going on in the land and equally important is the agitation for genuine Electoral Reform.
2} in the same vein we totally condemn the warped Electoral Reform Bills presented by President Umaru Musa Yaradua to the National Assembly last week. It is time wasting, unpatriotic, undemocratic and height of self service for President Yaradua to outrightly water down and mutilate the core ingredient of the Electoral Reform Bills submitted by ex-Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwias Electoral Reform Committee {ERC}.
CNPP cannot with all sense of decency, understand how such warped Bills can engender violence free, fair and transparent elections nor an impartial or non-partisan Electoral Commission different from Professor Maurice Iwu’s Commission genre; going by the historical facts on the ground and the Do-or-Die peculiarity of our political culture.
The ERC Bills that mandate the National Judicial Council {NJC} to collate names of interested persons for the chairman and key officials of the Electoral Commissions, submit to the National Council of State, where President Yaradua or any future president is the chairman and then to the Senate is most appropriate. The ERC Bills among other core ingredients also intends to end all electoral suits 6 months on or before swearing-in of winners. For all intents and purposes these are the critical foundations for actualization of Electoral Reform ahead of 2011 and the consolidation of our democratic process.
3} calls on the Nigeria Police Force to withdraw from further investigation of the Ekiti-Bribe-for-Vote scam. For it is trite law that a party cannot be a judge in its own case; in order words how can the Police that was fingered in the collation of Ido-Osi results and general biased partisanship in the entire fiasco be allowed random sampling investigation?
Transparent investigation will enable Nigerians to know who are the main culprits, how much was fleeced, who are the givers and the takers. It will also unveil why a 74 year old Mrs Ayo Adebayo jettisoned her immaculate conscience and her Christain faith.
Consequently we call for an independent high powered Judicial Inquiry or at minimum the EFCC and ICPC should move in immediately.
Osita Okechukwu
National Publicity Secretary
CNPP
08039738870
