Odje Re- Echoes Need For Electoral Reforms

A legal luminary, Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje has warned that unless the entire electoral system in the country is reformed, any person appointed to head the electoral body, no matter how tested, will never achieve credible election in Nigeria.

Dr. Odje’s opinion seems to be in line with that of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who  recently told a Voice of America (VOA) that ‘’Even Jesus Christ cannot conduct 100 per cent free and fair election in  Nigeria’’.

Dr Odje who was speaking in a public function organised by Bayelsa State Council of Nigeria Uninon of Journalists in Yenagoa, said that the removal of Professor Maurice Iwu as INEC chairman will do little to eradicate electoral fraud in the country  unless the  system is reformed in line with international standard.

‘Even if you appoint tested hands such as Prof Wole Soyinka to become INEC chairman, there is little  he can do. The system is corrupt, until the institutions are reformed, we may not be able to conduct free and fair elections’’.

The legal luminary, expressed worry that barely 13 months to the next general elections, there is no sign of  preparations due largely to political crises in the country.

Dr Odje who took a retrospective view on the federal government’s amnesty programme, faulted the way and manner of its implementation. ‘’we called the boys to come out of the creeks and we granted them amnesty but it looks as if we are not prepared for the post amnesty era’’, he said.

According to him, the oil companies too are  not helping matters, because their failure to relocate their headquarters to their operational areas was inimical to the development of the region. He called on journalists to live up to expectations in discharging their duties, regretting  that unlike other countries, they are not protected by the constitution.

To this end, he said while being objective in their reports, they should also be security conscious