The Interparty Advisory Council (IPAC) has raised the alarm over certain developments on the nation’s political space which it said if not urgently checked, may lead to compromising the conduct of free and credible 2023 general elections.
A statement by the IPAC national chairman, Engr Yabagi Yusuf Sani in Abuja yesterday said these ominous tides included, “The brazen breach of the provisions of the Electoral Act and other extant laws on the use of money to induce voters. This illegality manifested in the audacious display of humongous sums of money by aspirants during the primary elections, especially the presidential primaries of some of the political parties. It was also displayed, with impunity, during the last off-season governorship elections in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states.
“Our concern is that such criminal and anti-democratic tendencies may be carried into the general election and subvert our efforts towards having free, fair and credible elections that truly reflect the wishes of the electorate.”
He said IPAC has also noted the disturbing spikes in the use of divisive languages and hate speeches by several chieftains and spokespersons of some of the political parties in the mass media and at political rallies, adding that the reprehensible, irresponsible and reckless utterances which are already heating up the polity, could lead to even more dangerous effects of igniting mutual hate, animosity and violence among the populace along the nation’s existing tenuous fault lines.
He said the group is similarly worried and saddened by the widely reported incidents of violent physical assaults on opposition parties by yet to be identified or apprehended perpetrators, adding that an outstanding case in point is the reported recent attack unleashed against members of the PDP during a rally of the party in Kaduna.
“We are fearful that if the above unsavoury happenings are a harbinger of what the nation will witness when the campaigns gain more steam or, during the elections proper, the country will be having anything but free, fair, credible and acceptable elections in 2023.
“Very significant among the concerns of IPAC is the emerging virulent stream of tirades, blackmail and smear campaigns being directed at the leadership of INEC from various quarters.
“While some faceless persons, according to reports from online and main media platforms, are ‘demanding a probe of the INEC chairman’ over allegations of financial improprieties, others want him urgently ‘suspended from office to allow for unhindered investigation’ into his alleged sins,” he said.
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