Elections: ‘It’s Unfortunate Politicians Desperation To Acquire Power Is Getting Higher’ – Itse Sagay

Renowned constitutional lawyer and anti-corruption crusader, Itse Sagay, has reacted to the recent off-cycle election in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States, faulting politicians for the abuse of the electoral process despite assurances from relevant bodies for free and credible elections.

Naija News reports that the November 11 off-cycle election was marred with violence, vote-buying, and electoral malpractices.

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, Sagay asserted that the events which took place during the election show the high desperation of Nigerian politicians to acquire power.

He noted that it is regrettable to witness electoral malpractices despite all efforts that have been made, including the Electoral Act and the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to guarantee credible elections.

He said, “What I see in it is that the human nature of the Nigerian politicians, the desperation to acquire power at any cost is even getting higher. What we are witnessing is very unfortunate, people writing results on result sheets before the election, which is so discouraging. All the efforts that have been made, the Electoral Act, the BVAS, so much have been done, but the human nature, which I will call the animal nature with the Nigerian increases with each precautionary step to protect the electoral process. I was very sad about quite a number of things. In some places, I heard that there was no voting at all and results were still produced from those areas. This is crazy.”