Attahiru Jega, former chairman of
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has faulted Nigeria’s
electoral system which he says has been under assault.
Jega also alleged politicians
used university lecturers to commit irregularities during the elections,
particularly in Kano state.
According to Guardian, the former
INEC chairman spoke at the annual conference of the Fulbright Alumni
Association of Nigeria at Bayero University Kano (BUK).
He said the BUK lecturers who
worked with politicians to perpetrate “all sorts of irregularities” betrayed
the confidence reposed on them by compromising the electoral process.
A former vice-chancellor of BUK,
Jega oversaw the 2015 election which was widely described free and fair.
“I think the major crisis in
Nigeria’s democracy is that our electoral integrity has been under assault,
compromised and undermined by those who have control over the process,” he
said.
“Look at what happened during the
last elections, and the story of irregularities being spread even in the four
walls of BUK.
“The politicians, through crooked
means, got alliances with lecturers in the university to compromise the system
and they perpetrated all sort of irregularities, which pave way for a faulty
process for the continued entrenchment of bad people in governance.
“Maybe, I am preaching to the
converted or I am talking nonsense but frankly speaking, I am beginning to
think that we are not taking the obligations of scholarship and intellectual
engagement with the seriousness it deserves.”
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com