Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson has called for a total reform of Nigeria’s electoral framework to strengthen transparency and accountability in the conduct of elections.
Speaking during an appearance on Arise Television, Dickson stated that it is time to make the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accountable.
Dickson, a member of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, insisted that it is impossible for candidates to prove what only the Commission control.
He insisted that elections should be a period of celebrating what is best about the nation and not a time to kill it maim.
The ex-governor stated that one of the key proposals under discussion in the ongoing amendment of the Electoral Act is to ensure that the burden of proof in election disputes rests with the INEC rather than with candidates or political parties.
“Elections should be moments where we rediscover ourselves as a nation and celebrate what is best about us, not moments where people kill, maim, or write non-existent figures to win without the people’s mandate.
“The burden of proof in electoral matters must shift to INEC. That is where it rightly and properly belongs. We should not subject it to the normal evidential rule that says, he who alleges must prove,” he said.
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