A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Uwais, said in Abuja, on Monday, that the credibility of the 2015 general elections has changed the negative mindset of Nigerians towards the country’s electoral processes.

He said he was happy that with the outcome, the way Nigerians had hitherto thought that the country would not have credible elections had changed.

Uwais said this while making a remark at a national conference with the theme: “2015 general elections in Nigeria: the real issues,” organised by The Electoral Institute.

TEI is an organ of the Independent National Electoral Commission responsible for staff training and electoral research.

Uwais said, “The electoral mindset of Nigerians has hitherto been negative; I am of the opinion that the credibility of the 2015 general elections has affected, if not changed the election mindset of the generality of Nigerians.”

He, however, said though the 2015 general elections were adjudged free and fair, there were still some obstacles to surmount.

“Some of the outstanding obstacles are highlighted in the report of the electoral committee of which I was honoured to chair between 2007 and 2008, while new ones reared their heads during the 2015 general elections, like the operations of the card readers’ budget,” he added

In her own remarks, the acting National Chairman of INEC, Mrs. Amina Zakari, said the commission believed that it had a lot to learn from stakeholders to improve on its shortcomings and weakness.

Zakari, who was represented by the Chairman of TEI Board, Mr. Lawrence Nwuruku, said the focus of INEC was to design and implement electoral policies and proffer solutions that would not only solve electoral problems but also win public trust.

She said, “The citizenry can only trust an electoral umpire, when the election management body is able to deliver electoral service creditably well.

“We are happy that citizens’ trust in the commission has been rekindled and faith in the electoral process is becoming stronger.”

The Director General of the institute, Prof. Abubakar Momoh, said given the contentious nature of the 2015 general elections, the belief of the institute and INEC was that there was a need to engage stakeholders to critically examine the entire process.

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