Leave political parties alone, focus on law making – Group tells NASS

From: Femi Oyelola, kaduna

A group, under the auspices of Democracy Dividend Development Initiatives(DDDI) has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to concentrate on making effective laws that will tackle rising tide of insecurity, joblessness, poverty and other socioeconomic issues in the country rather than meddle in the affairs of registered political parties.
The President of group, Barrister Suleiman Ahmed Alkasawua stated this in a statement made available to the media in kaduna yesterday.
The group maintained that the nation is passing through very difficult period but the legislators are rather busy fixated on irrelevant issues like the deregistration of political parties which has nothing to do with raising the living standards of the ordinary Nigerians.
It further added that “Nigerians at different constitutional conferences in the country accepted the notion that Nigeria should be a multiparty democratic country while the 1999 constitution (as amended) has also given the Nigerian people the right to belong to different parties of their choice.”
“What Nigerians expect from members of the National Assembly is to create an enabling environment for multiparty democracy to thrive,” he said.
He also added that there is s a need to take a critical look at the electoral laws and do away with loopholes that had made it difficult for INEC to deliver free, fair and transparent elections to the people of Nigeria.
The group disabused the minds of Nigerians on the insinuations that it was due to the large number of political parties that had made INEC unable to conduct free and fair elections.
“There are countries that have over 200 political parties on the ballot but were able to deliver credible and transparent elections,” he added.
He called on Nigerians and lovers of democracy to exert pressure on the lawmakers to amend the electoral laws in order to promote multiparty democracy and remove the factors that made it possible for security operatives and thugs to disrupt polls for the purpose of creating room for inconclusive polls.