Mr Okorie OKorie, President, Nigeria Youth Organisation (NYO) on Wednesday said that improved and speedy judicial process were key to strengthening democracy.
Okorie said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on the occasion of Democracy Day.
He urged the country’s judiciary to rise to the occasion of not only defending democracy but also sustaining it with equitable, fair and timely dispensation of justice.
‘May I use this medium to call on our judiciary to help protect our democracy with timely and just dispensation of judgments.
‘Justice delayed is denied they say. We should try to dispense justice at expected times with equity and fairness,’ he said.
He called on the judiciary to always nullify elections that lacked integrity and transparency.
According to him, the courts should make verdicts that condemn electoral malpractices without fear or favour.
The NYO president who congratulated Nigerians on celebration of 25 years of uninterrupted democracy called for a youth-
inclusive at all tiers of government.
He explained that such inclusion was necessary for national development and prosperity.
Okorie also commended the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, for rising in defence of local government autonomy.
The NYO boss said that local governments, as the third tier of government, should not be stifled in true democracies because they remained the closest to the people.
Okorie identified financial and political autonomy as fundamental in engendering development in local governments.
The NYO president advised the Federal Government to ensure that political autonomy was granted local governments by allowing INEC to conduct elections for them.
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He urged Nigerians to support the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to restore the autonomy of local governments for rural development.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Fagbemi recently instituted a suit against 36 state gove
rnors over local governments autonomy at the Supreme Court.
Source: News Agency of Nigeria