Abubakar cautions on 2007 elections

Former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, has cautioned on the need to conduct the April elections in a safe, free and fair manner.
Abubakar stated this while presenting a book entitled ‘Corruption: The problem with Nigeria’ at the 4th Trust Annual Dialogue organised by the Media Trust Ltd. in Abuja.
He said at the dialogue which centred on “2007 Elections: Getting it Right”, that the safe delivery of this year’s elections in the form of allowing proper electoral process to prevail would give the country an opportunity to build a better Nigeria.
The former head of state emphasised that the giant of Africa was at a crossroad and expressed the hope that political actors would save it from anarchy by ensuring a violence-free polls in April.
Also, the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais said that getting it right in the general elections demanded that the fundamental human rights and freedom of the voters were respected.
“For a government to be by the people and therefore legitimate, it has to be elected by the people as voters at a free and fair election,“ he stressed.
Uwais pointed out that section 149(1) of the 1999 constitution provided that the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be a state based on the principles of democracy and social justice.
He added that “ sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria, from whom government derives all its powers and authority,“ he further explained.
The legal luminary said that a fair electoral process was one, where the playing field was said to be reasonably level and accessible to all electors, parties and candidates.