Civil Society
Organisations have asked INEC to address challenges witnessed in February 25
election. Connected Development (CODE) and its partners have asked the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address challenges
experienced during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections
ahead of the governorship and houses of assembly elections.
Hamzat Lawal, Chief
Executive Officer (CODE) who spoke on behalf of the group said this when he
presented the interim statement on the process and conduct of the presidential
and National Assembly elections in Abuja on Thursday.
Lawal said that the
group deployed observers in polling units across the 774 Local Government Areas
(LGAs) of the country as well as the Federal Capital Territory, saying that the
findings raised concerns about the management of the election.
He tasked INEC on 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), among others.
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.
“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 Uzabe election
observation mission was focused on the election day’s 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.
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