Shehu Sani chides other Nigerian presidents, says only Jonathan made pro-citizen electoral reform

Shehu Sani also stressed that since politicians are unreliable and our system is “imperfect”, Nigeria needs a nearly “perfect judiciary”

By Kehinde Okeowo

Human rights activist and former federal lawmaker, Shehu Sani, has said that no politician has ever made electoral reforms that led to their downfall apart from former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He made this known on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the first Roundtable of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC).

Dwelling on the topic “the Role of the Judiciary in Nigeria’s Democratic Sustainability”, the former Senator, who represented Kaduna central senatorial district in the 8th assembly, noted that  there is no integrity among politicians.

He went on to stress that since politicians are unreliable and our system is “imperfect”, Nigeria needs a nearly “perfect judiciary”.

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Discussing at the event, Shehu Sani said, “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..

“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.”