CSOs speak on election preparations by parties

With less than forty five days to elections, monitors and civil society organizations (CSOs) have spoken on low-key activities by political parties.

The Director of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Idayat Hassan, said one of the reasons may be due to lack of resources available to the parties to organize big campaigns compared to previous elections.

She said this might also not be unconnected with fears in certain quarters that the EFCC might go after big financiers of opposition parties.

“Also, it may be a gimmick to save resources and campaign in the last weeks of the elections to sway voters,” she said.

The National Coordinator of Good Governance Team (GGT), Mr. Tunde Salman, said there were many factors that may explain the low political activities.

According to him, INEC had repeatedly expressed its readiness to monitor and enforce campaigns finances to the extent of cultivating the support of EFCC, ICPC and other stakeholders and this might have served as a restraining factor on parties and candidates.

“The initial delay in the composition of campaign councils by the incumbents at the national and state levels is another factor. Nevertheless, we expect to start seeing intensive campaigns from January 2019 onwards,” Salman said.

Also, the National Chairman of Democratic People’s Congress (DPC), Rev. Olusegun Peters, said INEC was not showing the deserved seriousness for the 2019 General Elections.

“How can INEC release the guidelines for the conduct of elections without consulting the political parties who are the main stakeholders to the elections?”

He also accused the ruling APC of deliberately messing up the economy and democracy to perpetrate themselves in power.