Save Democracy Coalition (SDC) has called on the authorities in the United States, United Kingdom, and countries in the European Union (EU) to impose visa restrictions on corrupt Nigerian judges.
SDC, in a statement, said that the recent visa ban imposed on electoral offenders in Nigeria by the U.S. government can only achieve the desired results if corrupt judges are also sanctioned hit with visa restriction.
The U.S. said it had imposed visa restrictions on some individuals for their actions during the November 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa State elections and in the run-up to the Edo and Ondo State governorship polls.
However, the U.S. government did not disclose the names of the individuals.
‘We welcome the recent travel visa ban imposed by the US and the UK on Nigerian politicians found complicit in the electoral violence that occurred in some states in the 2019 general elections and during the electioneering campaign in the run up to the September 19 Edo State governorship election’, the SDC statement read.
‘However, we are of the opinion that the visa ban can only achieve the desired effect if the same measure is extended to judicial officers who collaborate with unscrupulous politicians to compromise the integrity of the ballot through controversial judgments in election petition cases.
‘Similarly, electoral officials who collude with politicians or political parties to falsify election results in favour of the highest bidders, should also be included in the visa ban wherever and whenever they are identified.
‘Our position is predicated on the obvious fact that these desperate and unscrupulous politicians will shift focus to judicial officers and electoral officials in their nefarious activities if the ban is not extended to these two key stakeholders in the electoral process.
‘We choose to refrain from citing specific cases of glaring miscarriage of justice in certain judgments delivered in some election petition cases arising from disputes in the 2019 elections’.
The SDC appealed to the international community, particularly the US, the UK and the EU, to identify with the Nigerian people in their quest to ensure that their votes count at every election.
Source: Save Democracy Coalition
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