The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to first admit that the system that enthroned him was flawed and therefore should reform it to especially whittle down the powers of the President and State governors.
National Chairman of the Party, Falalu Bello, who made the call on Wednesday evening, while addressing the media at the Party headquarters in Abuja, said the president and governors are too powerful, such that they do whatever they want and tend to undermine democracy.
According to him, Nigeria’s democracy is threatened under the current arrangement, adding that if reforms are not carried out, it is just a matter of time before it will crumble.
He advised that the Justice Muhammed Uwais Report on electoral reforms should be adopted.
Bello further said, “Notwithstanding the declaration of President Bola Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly elected President of Nigeria and the affirmation of same by the Supreme Court, the PRP believes his election and most of the other elections in 2023 were tainted with so many irregularities.
“For these reasons, the president is being challenged to write his name in gold in the annals of our nation’s democratic history, by doing what late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua GCFR did with the presidential election of 2007 which brought him to power”.
He insisted the implementation of the 2008 Justice Uwais Report holistically would guarantee INEC’s independence; change the election mindsets of Nigerians responsible for violence in elections, rigging of elections; and build lasting democratic institutions and culture.
Bello also said INEC should be unbundled and by constitutional provisions be made independent, non-partisan, impartial, professional, transparent and reliable as an institution.
The communique, which was jointly signed by its President, Sheikh AbdurRasheed Hadiyatullah, and Secretary-General, Nafi’u Baba Ahmed, noted that through improved and effective intelligence gathering and deployment of strong offensive against all flash-points of security threats Nigeria would rein-in on current security lapses in the country.
“We also need the promotion of community-oriented policing and fostering genuine trust between security forces and local communities. Additionally, a constitutional review is recommended to enable state governors to perform more effectively their statutory roles as Chief Security Officers of their States”, it noted.
The conference, which condemned absolutely the sustained killings, maiming and attacks on innocent souls across the country, called on the “government to launch a full-scale investigation and prosecution of those arrested on all cases leading to the killings around the country, especially those arrested for killing of the Army General Alkali in Plateau State, the attack on worshippers in the church in Jos, the killing of 11 Fulani herders arrested by the military in southern Kaduna and all others in different parts of the country”.
The PRP, while stating that the Government needs to promote dialogue and reconciliation among the citizens to enhance effective communication between warring communities, condemned the kidnapping of children in the northern part of the country.
