Nigeria’s Civil Society Situation Room has tasked the National Assembly to expedite action for the quick passage of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill in the drive to enforce respect for election laws.
The call came following the reported incidence of vote-buying and other electoral offences recorded in Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.
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Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Clement Nwankwo, noted that the incidence of vote-buying during the election was high, and called for more effective enforcement of election laws that prohibit vote-buying and other election offences.
Sponsored by Senator Abubakar Kyari from Borno State in 2019, the Electoral Offences Commission Bill has scaled second reading at the Senate as it proposes deterrence and sanctions for anti-democratic acts in the electoral environment.
On the general conduct of the election in Edo State, Nwankwo commended INEC, saying the commission conducted a much-improved election in Edo State.
On the introduction of result viewing portal by INEC, he lauded the initiative but advised that its usage should be expanded in order to deepen transparency of the country’s elections.
Meanwhile, the YIAGA Africa has urged the National Assembly to accelerate reforms to the Electoral Act to legalise electronic transmission of results.
This is contained in the organisation’s report on the last governorship election in Edo State and signed by the Executive Director, Samson Itodo.
The organization said the INEC results viewing portal deployed for the election had demonstrated how citizens’ access to polling unit results increased the integrity of the electoral process and encouraged acceptability of electoral outcomes.
It described the last Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State as relatively credible, saying that it was an improvement on the 2019 Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections.
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