‘Use March 11 polls to redeem your image,’ election observer groups advise INEC
Ahead of the scheduled March 11 Governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections across the country, some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) led by the group, Connected Development (CODE) have advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use the date as opportunity to redeem its image and ‘earn the trust of the Nigerian electorate.’
Presenting its preliminary report on the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly election which held nationwide, last Saturday, February 25, CODE and its further asked INEC to address challenges witnessed in the last polls.
The position of CODE follows similar calls by other election observer teams, including the European Union (EU), African Union (AU), Commonwealth and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) election observer missions in Nigeria who in their various preliminary reports noted the challenges recorded in the elections to INEC.
This is also as the United States and United Kingdom, in their separate congratulatory messages to the Nigerian government, advised the INEC to address the concerns raised by the electorate, opposition parties and some stakeholders over the process and conduct of the just-concluded poll before the next political exercise.
Chief Executive Officer, CODE, Hamzat Lawal, who spoke on behalf of the CSOs, while presenting the preliminary report on the polling exercise and conduct of INEC in the February 25 elections which it monitored, at a press conference, in Abuja, Thursday, said the group deployed observers in polling units across the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the country as well as the Federal Capital Territory, adding that its findings raised concerns about the management of the election.
“The Governorship and State Assembly election is yet another opportunity for INEC to redeem her image, and earn the trust and confidence of the electorates in our electoral process.
“More importantly, INEC should ensure transparency of the result management and collation process and make certain that polling unit results are uploaded timely on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
“The election observation mission was focused on the election day process; focusing on the quality of the election, with the notion that if the process is right, the outcome will be right and accepted by all.
“Drawing from these observations, CODE and her partners conclude that the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Election failed to meet the basic threshold of a credible election, as it failed short of Citizen’s expectations, INEC’s assurances, and benchmark of international election best practice,” Lawal said.
He said that the interim statement brought to light some of the discrepancies observed like delay in commencement of polls, low adherence to Electoral laws and slow or non-upload of results among others.
Lawal, therefore, tasked INEC with the swift deployment and early opening of polls, professional conduct of security personnel and INEC’s strict adherence to the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
He said that the BVAS should be used for biometric accreditation and electronic transmission of results from polling unit as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC 2023 Election guidelines for the conduct of election.
