A Civil Society National Roundtable, convened by the Civil Society Organizations Central Coordinating Council, has expressed unwavering support and confidence in the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, following their thorough review of the 2023 general election.
The Roundtable brought together Chairmen of various political parties, along with Presidential, Governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly candidates from different political affiliations.
During the National Roundtable, the introduction of technology in the accreditation and transmission of election results was commended. The group called on the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act 2022, enabling the deployment of technology in the result collation and announcement processes.
In the communiqué, the Roundtable criticized what they perceived as stereotypical attacks on the INEC National Chairman and firmly rejected calls for his dismissal, considering them as ill-willed and lacking good faith. The reports of the European Union Election Observer Mission and the Civil Society Situation Room were questioned for their alleged narrow representation of events at the nearly 180,000 polling units nationwide, given the limited number of observers deployed by both groups.
Furthermore, the Roundtable urged the newly appointed security chiefs in the country to provide full support to the INEC leadership, ensuring free, fair, and credible Governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa States scheduled for November.
Chief Ken Udeze, National Chairman of Action Alliance, presented the communiqué on behalf of the political parties and candidates. He highlighted that the diversity of political parties in the National Assembly was evidence of the elections’ fairness and credibility, emphasizing that minority parties constituted a significant portion of the House of Representatives’ membership.
In conclusion, the group lauded the Chairman of the Commission for overseeing a peaceful 2023 election and commended the candidates who lost but approached the tribunals using Certified True Copies of documents and digital records provided by INEC. This action was seen as a testament to the Commission’s neutrality during the election process.
