Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has given seven imperatives of credible elections in Nigeria.

According to Imoke, while presenting a lecture  entitled “Imperative of Credible Elections in our Nascent Democracy,” at the 2010 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Delegates Conference at Jogor Centre, Ibadan, on Thursday, these are people-based constitution; an enlightened citizenry; accountable leadership; democratic institutions; separation of powers; the sanctity of elections and credible opposition.

Imoke explained that the imperative of a people-based constitution involved the intention of making it more amenable to the needs of the people and should seriously consider how to develop and nurture a culture of constitutionalism as was in Ghana and South Africa, where there were institutions that were legally mandated to mass produce, translate and educate the citizenry on their rights.

The governor said the imperative of an enlightened citizenry ensured that every Nigerian citizen must be educated on their rights under the constitution and must be taught the ideals of liberty and equality and its implication.

On the imperative of accountable leadership, he averred that no leadership should be greater than the people as every leadership must be subject to the law and must submit to the law and must submit to the checks and balances of a democracy because whenever power was overconcentrated on a leader, that leader was bound to violate elections.

He reasoned that under democratic institutions, it must be recognised that there were institutions that were bigger than any individual and it was their duty to operate freely to safeguard the ideals of democracy, saying such institutions included  the  Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the judiciary, the press and the police, adding that, “it is expected that during elections they all work for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and not for the president or governor.”