The President of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference says the country, “haunted by insecurity”, is in need of a constitutional amendment to protect the Electoral Commission from political manipulation in the next elections and restore confidence in development, justice and democracy.
By Linda Bordoni
“Unfair practices, fraud, and alleged electoral errors,” on the part of Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission during the 2023 parliamentary vote, said Archbishop Lucius Ugorji of Owerri, seriously undermined the confidence of citizens in the electoral commission.
The President of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference, who called for constitutional reform amid widespread corruption, violence and insecurity in the west African nation, was addressing a meeting with lay people from the Ecclesiastical Province of Calabar.
According to Fides News Agency, he decried the manner in which Nigeria’s 2023 elections were conducted, and expressed concern for the behaviour of several politicians who, he said, “While the country faces serious existential threats (…) appear more concerned about the 2027 parliamentary elections than about fulfilling their campaign promises.
Archbishop Ugorji went on to say that “fundamental reforms are necessary to preserve social stability” and warned that “those who seek to obstruct these changes through peaceful means are making violent change inevitable.”
File photo of Archbishop Lucius Ugorji
Insecurity, fear, displacement, poverty
Noting that insecurity continues to plague Nigeria, “Many towns and villages across the country have become communities living in fear, where people are forced to flee and hold funerals.”
“Our fellow citizens are kidnapped, extorted, dehumanised, killed, or forced daily to flee their ancestral communities, abandon their livelihoods, and seek refuge in makeshift camps, exposed to extreme weather conditions and often without food or water,” he lamented.
Insecurity, in turn, the Archbishop continued, leads to poverty and unemployment, “which drive young people to crime, emigration, and despair.”
Concluding, he called on authorities to help Nigerians better engage by providing political education, and he appealed to lay people to take responsibility in the context of much-needed national transformation.
