“Cllr. A. Ndubusi Nwabudike is too close to President (George) Weah in a corrupt conspiracy that undermines his public standing and moral integrity to hold such a high office of public trust”, the International Justice Group (IJG) has said.
The group noted that Cllr. Nwabudike’s inclusion and appointment to NEC will undermine the integrity, independence and neutrality of that electoral body.
President Weah on Saturday March 21, nominated Cllr. Nwabudike, a naturalized Liberian who originally hails from Nigeria to head the National Elections Commissions or NEC this is his third appointment in the Weah’s regime in less than three years.
His nomination to occupy such position of trust as a naturalized citizens has raised eyebrows and drawn a lot of criticisms with many questioning his integrity.
In a statement issued Wednesday and signed by the IJG Executive Director Cllr. Jerome J. Verdier, Sr., the group further stated that itis offended by the actions of President George Weah to appoint and nominate a supposedly recently naturalized citizen of Liberia from the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the high office of chairman of NEC.
“Whenever the constitution of Liberia, statutory laws, regulations and policies refer to a “Liberian” as a qualifying criteria, for a position of high office and trust in the land, like the National Elections Commission (NEC) that reference is unequivocally referring to natural born Liberian, and not a naturalized Liberian,” the IJG asserted.
“As a matter of public policy and interest, it is unthinkably inimical to our national interest that a naturalized person will be nominated to assume such high office, especially one created by the constitution of Liberia which, therefore demands unquestionable allegiance, undying loyalty and commitment to the state without an iota of doubt,” the IJG continued.
“It is even worse,” the group further argues “that the nominee is claiming Liberian nationality under doubtful circumstances and has exhibited low scale virtues of unethical conduct.”
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More besides, the IJG said, Cllr. Nwabudike appointment is a conflict of interest in that he once performed legal and advisory services for president Weah and is being moved around from one position to another, describing it as |”testing the resolve of the Liberia people before finally landing at the NEC, which may not be his final destination”.
“He has been moved around based on the personal interests of the president in manipulating, denigrating, eclipsing the independence of integrity institutions and establishing an all-powerful Executive Branch, thus securing his dominance of the other two branches of government and removing the checks and balance principle, without which there can be no true democracy,” the IJG noted.
The IJG argues that Cllr. Nwabudike has been moved from the Good Governance Commission to Anticorruption Commission just when Mr. Weah thought covering crimes and corruption was a priority; then he is now moved to the NE) when he believed rigging elections was an even greater priority.The group said rather than appointing Cllr. Nwabudike to NEC Weah should rather contemplate on reforming the entire NEC.
