GDPN Presidential Candidate Seeks Changes in INEC Leadership
The presidential candidate of the Grassroots Development Party (GDPN), Davidson Isibor Akhimien has said that there is a need to effect changes in the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the 2019 general elections.
He said his call was predicated on the need to remove every doubt about the neutrality of the electoral umpire.
Akhimien told journalists in Abuja after his emergence as presidential candidate of the party though there has been improvement in the electoral process since the 2015 elections, there was the need to change present leadership of the commission in order engender more confidence and trust in the 2019 polls.
He said, “I think Nigeria’s electoral process is evolving, you will discover that there has been an improvement in the way elections are conducted, but for 2019 elections, I think that beyond the materials that will be deployed, the leadership at INEC should also be looked at, because it would appear that some of the personalities have a clear relationship with the incumbent. In the interest of fairness, I think that the leadership of INEC should be changed,” he said.
Akhimien also expressed displeasure at the way the issue of security has been politicised by politicians. “Before now, Fulani herdsmen were killing people frequently but now that politicians are seeking votes, it has abated. All of a sudden, there is a lull. That shows some politicisation of that issue and I don’t why issues of national security should be politicised,” he said.
The GDPN Presidential Candidate promised to ensure peace, stability, economic growth and development, if elected. The presidential candidate said there was no way Nigeria could claim to be great when it was running an import dependent economy.
He said that the country must find ways to expand its GDP and to become an export dependent economy in the shortest possible time.
He also said that Nigeria has failed in the area of governance, adding that the present situation was an aberration, where individuals are stronger than institutions.
According to the presidential hopeful, whereas it was institutions that sustain good governance, the opposite was the case in Nigeria.
He promised that if elected into office, the GDPN was going pursue politics of development, especially in the rural areas, adding that if what it takes to get the country out of the woods was restructuring, then it should be done.
“As an individual, I have been able to study the problems of our country over the years and have identified what they are, where we have missed it and why we are still lagging behind. I am offering Nigerians hope for a prosperous country, I offering Nigerians peace, stability, growth and development.”