Eminent lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, on Tuesday, advised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress to sign an accord that would ensure that whoever wins the presidential election would appoint ministers and other government functionaries from both parties and others.

Nwabueze, who addressed journalists in Lagos on behalf of Project Nigeria Movement comprising several civil society organisations, berated the winner-takes–all political culture in the country and argued that a coalition government was imperative.

He said, “We need to experiment on a coalition government, otherwise called unity government, in a way that whoever wins the presidential elections will constitute his government with members drawn from both parties (APC and PDP) or from all the parties that contested the presidential election in a manner to be agreed under a formal accord, as was done in the Second Republic.

“Such an arrangement is what we strongly recommend as appropriate in the present circumstances existing in the country. This is different from and has, indeed, nothing to do with the somewhat confused idea of interim government being bandied about.”

He, however, said although the general elections were postponed, they had reduced the tension and given the Independent National Electoral Commission time to address other pending issues.

The lawyer shunned concerns that the elections dates of by March 28 and April 11 were not feasible and urged INEC not to further postpone the dates.

While responding to a question on the suitability of the card readers, Nwabueze recalled that rigging was possible in past general elections because of a poor accreditation system, noting that the card reader was an advancement in technology that would reduce the likelihood of manipulation and rigging.

Nwabueze also described the deployment of soldiers to monitor the elections as unconstitutional, warning President Goodluck Jonathan not to do so.

The Chairman, Action Committee of the group, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), in his remarks, urged INEC to ensure that all eligible voters get their Permanent Voter Cards before the election dates.

Agbakoba said in the eventuality that INEC was not able to provide the PVCs; the electoral body should provide an alternative means to ensure that those without their PVCs can vote.

“If anyone has not got his PVC because of the inefficiency of INEC, it would be unfair to deny him the opportunity to vote. As much as we welcome the idea of the PVC, INEC should be flexible and ensure that people are not disenfranchised,” he said.