The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have called for the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for effectiveness and coverage of every aspect of elections.
They made the call yesterday in Abuja at the Electoral Reform Roundtable with the theme: ‘Unpacking Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections and Prospects for Electoral Reforms’, organised by the Kofi Annan Foundation and Yiaga Africa.
They also called for the amendment of the 2022 Electoral Act to provide for full electronic transmission of election results, arguing that the present law giving INEC options when it comes to election results transmission is not the best.
Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said the legal framework for elections in Nigeria needs to be revoked because the election has shown that there are inconsistencies in the law.
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“There are big reasons why the law should be amended. There are also inadequacies with the legal framework. But again, elections are not just about laws because you can have the best of laws; if politicians do not change their attitude towards politics, towards elections and towards democracy, we will engage in this cycle of reforms to our electoral process.
“That does not in any way inspire confidence in citizens. So, the discussion about unbundling of INEC is to instill confidence in Nigerians. The confidence of citizens is critical,” Itodo said.
The Chairman of IPAC, Engr Yabagi Sani, said Nigeria is too large for INEC to cover every aspect of the elections.
“We were promised that the electoral act made it mandatory for results to be transmitted electronically, because we know BVAS will be used to check those who are eligible to vote. Elections are lost and won at the polling units. But to our surprise, elections were not counted at the polling units. The counting has always been the problem,” Sani said.
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