Nigeria should return to parliamentary system – Ex-CAN youth leader
The Former National President, Youth Wing of Christian Association of Nigeria and Chairman City Gate Elders Nigeria, Dr Dele Oluwatade, has advocated for a return to the parliamentary system of government that was practiced before the military intervention into nation’s governance.
Oluwatade, who made the observation in a media chatting in Benin City, Edo State, urged the politicians to encourage the regional parliamentary system of government noting that it would help remodel the nation.
He said, “Nigerian politicians do not understand politics, if they understand politics as service to the community, they will opt for a parliamentary system of government for the nation.
“Tinubu, Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso and others have been roaming around the whole country in order to be president, whereas, we will only choose one out of them, all the seventeen losers end up redundant untill the next election or be knocked out for life as ex- presidential candidate specimens.
He disclosed that eight parliamentary regional heads are better than one presidential head.
“But if we have eight regions, I know that Atiku will most likely win his North East Region, Tinubu the South West, Obi the South East and Kwankwaso the North West Region. And others like that. You see that out of the eighteen Presidential Candidates, only one will be chosen, the others will drown.
While explaining that the presidential system is too expensive to run, the medical doctor said in the long run the one head elected cannot even cope with governance of the nation.
“There are more vacancies for Politicians to be of benefit to their communities in parliamentary system of government.
“The presidential election has become the main issue, whereas it is not, the main issue is the restructuring of this nation and with that, politicians have better chances, when they run in their regions and benefit their community in particular and the nation in general.”
“These experiences are peculiar disadvantages of the presidential election process. Even USA will be better off operating Federal parliamentary System,” he declared.
He also berated the Independent National Electoral Commission over the outcome of just concluded presidential election which declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress Asiwaju Bola Tinubu winner having polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku of the Peoples Democratic who came second with 6,984,520 votes and the Labour Party flag bearer, Peter Obi who scored 6,101,533 votes to come third.
He said INEC needs to abide by its own rules, as against what happened during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections on Saturday, February 25, 2023.
He also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to go back to BVAS records to get a credible result, just as he maintained that the commission is not eligible to conduct any other election until it properly accounts for the presidential election.
According to him, “INEC should please obey their rules to avoid plunging the nation into avoidable chaos. If you don’t, the electorate and the international community will hold INEC responsible for any fall-out as a result of breaking the rules.”
“A football match supervised by a bad referee takes the beauty of the match away. The beauty and credibility of an election is the performance of the umpire.”
“My personal opinion is that INEC should rerun the election in areas without BVAS records. And this time around, every hand should be on deck. The election should be repeated, after all those who voted are still alive.” he said.