By Seyi Babalola
Former federal lawmaker and activist, Shehu Sani, has said that no politician has ever made electoral reforms that led to their downfall apart from former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Sani was one of the speakers at the inaugural Roundtable of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, on the Judiciary’s Role in Nigeria’s Democratic Sustainability, held in Abuja on Thursday.
The former Senator, who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the 8th Assembly, stated that politicians lack honesty.
“Well, I had the privilege of being in the civil society and I’ve been in politics. And if you mix these two experiences you’ll be able to know the two sides and also to be able to understand where the issues are,” he said.
“As activists, our thinking fundamentally differs from politicians. I’m still trying to find out if there’s any electoral reform Nigerian politicians cannot reconvent.
“We talk about the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, why are the political parties not the last hope of the common man, why is INEC not the last hope of the common man, why is the Presidency, the military, Senate and House of Reps not the last hope of the common man?
“We want a perfect judiciary in an imperfect system. In the field of activism, we’ve two sets of ideas – this is wrong and this is right – politicians don’t have that.
“We expert more from our judiciary. No president will make electoral reform that would lead to his downfall in office, only Jonathan.
“Only Jonathan appointed a Chairman of INEC he never knew and never met. Only Jonathan can introduce a data capturing machine and ended up being captured,” he said.
