The ongoing reform of the Electoral Act is no guarantee for a free, fair and credible elections next year, House of Representatives Speaker Dimeji Bankole said yesterday.
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Bankole spoke in Ilorin at a workshop organised by the Students Union Government (SUG) of the University of Ilorin.
The speaker also said other preparations such as the release of N187billion to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Direct Data Capturing (DDC) machines cannot ensure credible elections.
Bankole said the youth should participate in politics to entrench credible elections.
He said: "To advance the frontiers of democratisation, conscious efforts must be made by our youths to enhance their participation in politics. I call on Nigerian youth to refuse to be used for electoral rigging and political violence by self-serving politicians. They should stand up, defend democracy and fight for a better future for every Nigerian. Nigerian youths have to become real actors and not just spectators on the national political turf.
"We are of the conviction that the electoral reforms we are engineering will go a long way, not only in broadening the franchise and platform of democratic participation, but also in opening up the electoral process to greater transparency and credibility. When the wishes of the majority are respected and when votes are actually made to count, then there is greater, then there is greater possibility that the contestants as well as the electorate will accept the outcome of the ballot, hence foreclosing any tendencies for politically-motivated crises or protracted legal battles."
He added: "The electoral reforms are being fashioned to ensure that unwarranted executive, party or electoral umpire's influence in determining the final outcome of ballot exercises, is decidedly stemmed."
He said without accurate succession pattern in governance, leadership would fail.
"I hold the view that we must shed the over bloated weight of responsibilities transferred to the centre. We must return to the practice of fiscal federalism, and consequently, constitutionally compel states and local governments to generate enough internal resources with which to grow their communities and cities.
"A situation where local government councils and some state governments become active only after they return from the federation accounts allocation committee meeting Abuja, where some money is shared for the running of the federal, state and local governments is unsustainable. I declare that the practice of true fiscal federalism is one of the main approaches to resolving the myriad of complex governance problems facing Nigeria today."
The Nation (http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/news/21076.html)