A civil society organisation, Network for Best Practice and Integrity in Leadership (NEBPRIL) has described the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the recent governorship election in Osun State, as progressively transparent and a tonic for the deepening of democracy in Nigeria.
The group said INEC deserves the accolades of Nigerians for its relentless efforts in the search of ways to improve in its constitutional duties, by deploying confidence boosting technology in the election processes to ensure that the outcome is increasingly reflective of the will of the people.
It said that the results of the recent elections in both Ekiti and Osun states were glowing testaments that the nation’s public institutions can get it right, by putting national interest above partisan considerations.
The group’s chairman and a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Victor Ogene, also commended the people of Osun State for their civility during and after the election that ensured the exercise was rancour free and devoid of violence.
He, however, expressed sadness over the recourse to coarse and uncouth language in the last days of the campaigns.
He rather enjoined politicians to conduct themselves in civil manner, as that would help oil the wheels of democracy, conviviality and peace in the land, rather than making inflammatory conjectures and utterances that often sends wrong signal and cause disaffection to the general public.
The NEBPRIL chairman cautioned that politicians should ensure that the 2023 electioneering period should be devoid of offensive, denigrating and divisive utterances that would make the coming election look like a war rather than a leadership selection process.
