Bola Babarinde, former president of South Africa’s All Progressives Congress (APC), has recommended INEC use lessons learned from Wednesday’s court ruling to improve the conduct of future elections in the country.
Babarinde gave this advice on Saturday in a congratulatory message to President Bola Tinubu for his victory at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPC).
He urged the electoral body to use the few lessons learned from the court verdict to conduct free and fair governorship elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa.
While celebrating Tinubu’s victory in court, Babarinde called on the president to be magnanimous in victory and listen more to citizens’ criticisms and suggestions for good governance.
He said the highlight of the court process was the ruling quashing the petitions of the People’s Democratic Party and Labor Party candidates for lack of merit.
“The culmination of the entire electoral court process is the ruling that annulled the petitions of the PDP and Labor Party candidates and declared President Bola Tinubu the winner of the elections,” he noted.
Babarinde said since petitions were won and lost, Nigerians should put the nation first by incorporating ideas, regardless of political affiliations, to make the country great.
The APC boss suggested that the Tinubu administration should rebrand the fuel subsidy palliatives as social responsibility palliatives for vulnerable people and that they should be administered by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs.
“There should be subsidies for some basic items that affect the lives of the vulnerable and the poorest of the poor in Nigeria.
“Deploying accurate data and digital innovation is key to achieving good governance without reckless corruption as it would be better managed for effective distribution and impact.
“This period should be a period of sober reflection for our leaders to show some austerity in their lifestyles and sincerity of purpose to ensure that they empathize with the concerns and plight of Nigerians.
“To demonstrate that they are also sacrificing as fellow citizens in efforts to reposition the country during this period of economic reforms,” he said.