[VIDEO] Electoral Act: Lawmakers Must Listen To Citizens, Not Act As ‘Overlords’ – Clement Nwankwo

The Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, has urged Nigerian lawmakers to respect citizens’ views in the ongoing review of the Electoral Act, warning that legislators must not “act as overlords”.

Nwankwo, in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Thursday, said a broad consensus had already been reached through joint National Assembly committees, public hearings and zonal consultations on key reforms, including real-time electronic transmission of election results.

However, he criticised the Senate’s use of closed executive sessions on a matter of “grave national public interest”, stressing that the Electoral Act is “not the personal property of anybody, it is a national property”.

“You have to be transparent. People elected you as a legislator; you didn’t fight your way into that position. You were elected by the people, and you represent the people. There is nothing that makes you superior to the ordinary Nigerian. You were elected, and you are accountable to the people.

“When you beg people to vote you in, you must listen to them. That is what is painful to a lot of us. You act as if you are an overlord, but you are not listening to us, the citizens,” he said.

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The PLAC executive director added that lawmakers are elected to serve the people and must remain accountable to them.

Nwankwo explained that the agreed draft required the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit polling unit results electronically and simultaneously with physical collation, a position informed by lessons from the 2023 elections.