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A Pan-Nigeria political coalition, Save Democracy Mega Alliance 2027 (SDMA’27) has announced plan to rally pro-democracy groups and opposition political parties to demand an amendment to the constitution that will remove the powers of the president and governors to appoint the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), state electoral commissions and heads of the judiciary at national and state levels.
The group is advocating that the powers should be vested on a new body of non-partisan, integrity tested Nigerians whose selection and appointment process should be determined by what it described as “sacrosanct and inviolate character criteria that are beyond reproach.”
Spokesperson of SDMA’27, Comrade Tony Akeni Le Moin, who addressed journalists at a prelaunch briefing in Abuja, disclosed that some eminent Nigerians across the six geopolitical zones and the leadership of leading prodemocracy organisations have already endorsed the two-prong advocacy of SDMA’27.
Pat Utomi, a professor of Political Economy, who hailed the goals of the group, according Moin, described the move as “the next best thing to happen to Nigeria after the return to civil rule in 1999.”
“Amending the Nigerian constitution to divest the powers of the president on appointment of INEC chairman and commissioners by insulating the commission from the influences of the executive arm was one of the cardinal recommendations of the Justice Uwais electoral reforms report.
The same amendment should apply to the Nigerian judiciary, which is vested with the function of postelection matters and adjudication.
Transferring those powers to a clearly neutral apolitical body of statesmen is long overdue. “This campaign is coming behind time given our traumatic experiences of fraudulent conduct of elections by INEC and equally fraudulent election tribunal verdicts.
But now that the idea is here at last, every Nigerian who desires true progress for our country should see the project as a national emergency.
The boots of democrats, irrespective of their political backgrounds, should be on ground to mobilize for and demand these amendments from the present rulers of Nigeria until the goal is attained,”
Utomi was quoted to have said. One of the documents of the SDMA, bearing its mission statement, gave a three-fold outline of the group’s roadmap.
According to the document, SDMA was out “to coordinate nationwide consensus building efforts integrating Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities, virile opposition political parties, labour and civil society networks, interfaith leaders of thought, pro-democracy movements and progressive Nigeria diaspora concerns into one cohesive national demand action front to pragmatically engage the present leadership of Nigeria.”
It further said it was the group’s goal “to galvanize and have the above collective convoke and undertake a National Confab which will drive actions to compel the National and State Assemblies of Nigeria to amend Nigeria’s Constitution entailing, above other subjects, the following categorical demand removal of the powers of the president and state governors to appoint heads of INEC and judicial bodies at federal and state levels respectively, transferring those powers to a new, truly independent body of eminent, integrity tested, certified politically non-partisan Nigerians.”
The statement further said the alliance shall “pursue with unrelenting vigour and uncompromising determination the above objectives to victory within the shortest practical time and at all cost to the vision bearers of the cause, including imprisonment and the ultimate price of life, so that Nigeria may have, at last, an excellent, corruption-free or corruption minimized country under a new order of conscientious, committed, compassionate and capable nation building leadership.”
The statement further read: “It is our studied view that to save Nigeria from her current catastrophes of daily increasing social-economic turmoil, pandemic poverty and insecurity, fatal future mortgaging foreign debts obtained for consumption and looting, and our beleaguered democracy from total and irretrievable state capture is now a task that should not be postponed a day farther.
“Assuredly and sadly, the election results of 2027 have already been decided by the APC Federal Government of the day in favour of itself. Doing the same opposition campaigns the same way and expecting different results in 2027 should be out of our reckoning.
We aver that in the absence of a successful pursuit and attainment of our above designed counter-cause to their predetermined fait accompli, all labours, funding sacrifices of citizens and blueprints to take power back from the current locust leadership of Nigeria, no matter how well-meaning and superlative, shall amount to monumental failure and another menu of lamentations.
“Thus, the earlier we begin the counter-measures of organized and legitimate resistance advised in the SDMA’27 roadmap, the better and brighter our hopes of reversing Nigeria’s obliterating leadership calamity in 2027.”’
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