Published By Olukayode Idowu
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s instruction to Ministers in his cabinet who had picked nomination and expression of intention forms to drop their resignation letter as Ministers.
The coalition of the CSOs had on Tuesday asked the president to relieve the Ministers with interest in vying for elective office of their duties or face a mass action from Nigeria.
The CSOs are not the only set of people making this call as the president have for few days now faced the tongue-lash of many Nigerians for failing to take action on the Ministers who have purchased the nomination forms and are presently involved in traveling round the country for delegates support at the primary of the All Progressives Congress.
A statement from the CSOs on Wednesday read that: “The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) commend Mr. President for taking this laudable step and listening to the call of Nigerians towards a free and fair election, following the issuance of his directives that all members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) running for elective office must submit their letters of resignation on or before Monday the 16th of May, 2022.”
The statement added that: “We hope that this directive takes full effect pending legislation on the Court of Appeal’s decision to void Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022 which made it mandatory for political appointees to resign from office, before they could vote as delegates or vie for any elective position.
“It is worthy of note to mention that this action puts to bed worries of complicity in the impunity with which some political appointees have expressed their political interests ahead of the upcoming general elections in total disregard for the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the sensibilities of Nigerians whose collective resources have been diverted to satisfy personal political ambitions.”
The statement further said that: “These illegalities have been well condemned by the public and the President’s decision at this time is indeed a welcome one and reflects a responsiveness to the yearnings of the citizenry.”
The CSOs also call on all political parties to demonstrate ethical and moral standards that ensure a democratic election and avoid the commercialization and proliferation of money politics which has disqualified patriotic Nigerians from partaking in the elections.