The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to draw valuable lessons from both the mistakes and successes of the 2023 General elections.
During a civil society national roundtable on the comprehensive review of the 2023 general election held in Abuja, Executive Director of CTA, Faith Nwadishi, emphasized the importance of learning from the loopholes observed during the elections.
she said ” The 2023 elections is one of the elections where we have had one or two positives and one or two negatives as with all other elections preparatory to that election a lot of us had put in a lot, we depended a lot on technology and we lost sight of the fact that technology is not hundred percent safe through so we had that issue and I am happy that INEC itself has also recongnised and identified that that happened. not only that INEC recognised that that happened, INEC also recongnised that its own staff contributed to undermining the process and we commed them for being proactive enough to begin to prosecute those staff as we all the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa State is under prosecution now. I think that mostly recommendation should be what we will put out to INEC so that we will continue to make our elections progress” Nwadishi said
The event was organized by the Civil Society Central Coordinating Council in collaboration with political party chairpersons, presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, and other candidates at different levels.
The Center for Transparency Advocacy, Ethnic Youth Leaders Council of Nigeria, and numerous civil society partners were also involved.
Nwadishi commended INEC for its efforts in addressing the identified loopholes and expressed hope that the recommendations presented to the commission would contribute to enhancing and strengthening the electoral process in future elections.
Also the National Chairman of Action Alliance Barrister Kenneth Udeze, who spoke on behalf of political parties and candidates, conveyed the contents of the roundtable’s communiqué.
He expressed displeasure at what he perceived as unfair and stereotypical attacks on the INEC National Chairman. The roundtable rejected calls for the chairman’s dismissal, considering it an expression of ill-will and bad faith.
”The National Roundtable therefore frowns at the stereotyped attacks on the Chairman of the Independent National Election Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu who is the same person that put everything on the line to push through the technological innovations and reforms, cleaned up the voter register, is prosecuting and disciplining staff as high as a State Resident Electoral Commissioner, insisted that BVAS must be used for the election. The Roundtable views the attacks as expression of ill-will being and done in bad faith to achieve objectives which may not be noble. Roundtable flays the role of some local Civil Society organizations in this unpatriotic and selfish report which was presented without proper consultation of the Nigerian Civil Society and thus presented the community in very bad light.
The National Roundtable criticizes the election observation report of the European Union which falls below standard of any report by any credible agency on election observation mission. The Roundtable wondered how the EU could rely on the report of a few observers deployed in a handful of urban centres be representative of the almost 180 000 Polling Units in the country.
The National Roundtable therefore frowns at the call for the removal of the INEC Chairman from office and unanimously rejects the call as being self-serving, myopic and a setback to gains made in the electoral process.
The National Roundtable believes that for INEC to be truly independent, the appointment and removal of the leadership of the Commission should not be at the whims and caprices of the executive and that until the approval of the National Assembly is sought and obtained, the Chairman of INEC cannot be removed. The National Roundtable having analyzed the pre-election, Election Day and post-election outcomes of the elections, and without prejudice to the ongoing petitions at the tribunals gives INEC a pass mark and unanimously passes a vote of confidence on the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for his outstanding conduct of the 2023 general election and condemns in the strongest of terms the attacks on his personality and the calls for his removal from office.
The National Roundtable therefore calls for support of all stakeholders, particularly the new security chiefs to the Chairman of INEC for the upcoming November Governorship elections in three states so that the performance at the general elections will be surpassed. While thanking all participants for their sincere contributions, we urge all citizens in public office to continue to do their best at all times in the interest of Nigeria” Udeze said
The keynote speaker, Ezenwa Nwogu, acknowledged the logistical challenges faced during the 2023 General elections but affirmed that INEC successfully fulfilled its role as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.
He said “Those who have been sanctioned by INEC have been recalled by the Industrial Court many of them and so the role of the judiciary in making sure that primitive sanctions are not given to people who break the law is something that we need to take up. rather than continue to condemn professor Mahmood we should celebrate him, first and foremost he saved money, secondly he also put in a process that has delivered perhaps one of the fairest election in Nigeria”.