February 23, (THEWILL) — The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has called on the National Assembly to speak directly to burning national issues and stop conveying the impression of double talk during their proposals, debates and passage of bills in plenary.
The Archbishop of Owerri and outgoing President of the CBCN, Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji, made the call at the opening session of the 2026 First Plenary Meeting at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria Resource Centre in Durumi, on Sunday in Abuja.
Arguing that there was urgent need to restore dwindling citizens’ trust in the country’s democracy, Most Rev Ugoji who spoke on the conference theme, “The Common Good and Leadership in Nigeria,” noted that members of the national assembly have in recent times displayed disturbing inconsistencies in the handling of matters of grave concerns to Nigerians and national well-being, notably the 2025 Tax Bill and a section of the Electoral Act 2026 dealing with electronic transmission of election results in real time.
He noted that while the lawmakers passed the 2025 Tax Act, which directed digital filing, record-keeping and payments nationwide, they appeared to “water down” the section in the Electoral Act mandating electronic transmission of results in real-time.
“The honourable members of the NASS should not allow themselves to be perceived as talking out of both sides of the mouth, expressing inconsistent and contradictory positions in the process of passing bills. The world is watching! Above all, God is also watching,” he said and called on Senators and Representatives to review their stand on electoral reforms on mandatory real-time transmission of results.
Most Rev Ugorji who also expressed concern over the continuous decline in voter turnout, disclosed that the turnout has plunged from 69 per cent in 2003 to a record low of 23 per cent in 2023.
“This decline says a lot about citizen’s trust in the electoral process and calls into question the legitimacy of elected officials in a democratic dispensation with mandate of ever-decreasing minority,” he further said, adding that the federal lawmakers can still stop this steep decline in the electoral process by ensuring that the Electoral Act provides for the mandatory transmission of results from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) at polling units directly to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
Such moves, he said, would “prevent any human tampering with the expressed will of the people.”
“We fervently hope that the 2027 elections will be different and that every single vote will count,” he said, cautioning against manipulation of the electoral process and abuse of authority in both public and private spheres.
THEWILL recalls that President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, February 18 2025 signed the Electoral Amendment Bill 2026 into law, a day after the National Assembly passed the bill. The contentious clause 60 in the bill, which has attracted condemnation across board because of the earlier plan by the Senate to retain the clause in the Electoral Act 2022, which gave the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, discretionary powers to transfer results, was later amended to accommodate electronic transmission of results with manual back up.
The CBCN President also raised the alarm over the state of insecurity in the country, describing as “senseless massacres,” recent killings in some parts in the country, particularly in Woro community in Kwara State and in Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna Zamfara, Benue and Kogi states.
Referencing the recent killings in the Woro community in Kwara State, Most Rev Ugorji said, “the killing spree lasted all night without any resistance from security agents. The Jihadists torched houses, abducted some persons and left the villages in ruin. Many of the dead were later found with hands and feet tied; some were burnt alive, some others had had their throats slit.” He called on the government to consider deploying drones to tackle the worsening insecurity, enforce regulation against foreigners exploring weak laws to take part in illegal mining and review the plan to integrate repentant terrorists into the army.
The conference which was opened with a Mass, officiated by the Archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Ayau Kaigama at St. Gabriel’s Chaplaincy, Catholic Secretariat, Abuja, attracted dignitaries which included the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, who represented President Bola Tinubu, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, Emeritus Archbishop, John Onaiyekan, the former Director-General of the National Orientation Agency, Dr Mike Omeri Agbo and heads of Christian denominations across the country.
Speaking on the issue of insecurity, Senator Akuma stated that terrorists causing the killings in Nigerians are foreign nationals who infiltrated the country through its porous borders.
Akume noted that insecurity, which remains a major challenge in Nigeria, was a global challenge.
“Insecurity is a problem not only in this country but throughout the world. Even advanced countries are going through this. Those who are doing the killings, most of them are from outside the country. I say what I know to be true based on security reports,” he said, adding that, “many of these people who have been arrested don’t speak English. They speak very poor Hausa, but they speak French. Do we speak French in Nigeria? No.”.
He disclosed that the move by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration to integrate repentant terrorists into the army was resisted and stopped.
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