Group Okays Merger Of Political Parties

The Deputy General Secretary of Alliance for Credible Election (ACE), an NGO, Mr Asuzu Echezona, has said that the merger of opposition parties will make the political space more competitive in Nigeria.

Echezona made the statement in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides the citizens freedom to join any form of legitimate association they choose to belong.

“Therefore, opposition parties are free to enter into a merger to form a political association but our ultimate concern is good governance committed toward sustainable development in Nigeria,” he said.

He said unless the culture of internal democracy was entrenched among political parties, democratic governance and national development would continue to suffer setbacks.

Echezona noted that political parties were critical institutions of democracy and that their manifestoes were the pivots around which politicking and governance revolved.

The deputy secretary general called for a closer collaboration between the parties and the law makers in deepening democracy and enhancing national development.

He expressed concern over the way the nation’s political parties were being managed.

Echezona called on political parties to be impartial, disciplined and act as ardent observers of their own rules.

He further urged them to adhere strictly to their codes of conduct and the rule of law to enhance good governance.

He advocated the reform of the nation’s judicial system to make it truly the last hope of the common man.

Echezona called on the National Assembly to give priority attention to judicial reform in the constitution review process to “ensure fairness in the dispensation of justice”.

He also urged the National Judicial Council to review the process of appointing judges to ensure that sanity was brought back in the system of justice.