CSOs, IPAC Seek Unbundling Of INEC, New Electoral Act

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) have demanded the unbundling of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for effectiveness and coverage of every aspect of elections.

Also, the CSOs and IPAC have called for the amendment of the 2022 Electoral Act to provide for full electronic transmission of election results, adding that the present law gives INEC discretion when it comes to election results transmission.

Speaking 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, the chairman of IPAC, an umbrella body of all political parties in Nigeria, Yabagi Sani, said Nigeria is too large for INEC to cover every aspect of elections.

While calling for the unbundling of INEC and the amendment of the electoral act, Sani said: “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.

“Collation is as critical as the BIVAS. I am glad that the Senate after their retreat resolved that election results transmission should be made mandatory.

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“So, the legal framework they used was not what Nigerians were told. So, we were deceived by the law which needs to be amended and we should have other institutions that will work with INEC because the country is too big for INEC to cover in every aspect of elections.”

On her part, the country director of ActionAid Nigeria and former head of Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Ene Obi, described INEC’s performance in the last election as worrisome and called for a probe of how the commission expended the money released to it for civic education and electronic voting and transmission of results

“So, we have to put more pressure on the lawmakers to amend the laws and INEC should also follow the law and their guidelines,” she said.

The representative of Kofi Annan Foundation, Sébastien Brack said the body had been involved in Nigeria elections because Nigeria is key to Africa and the world.

For the executive director Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, the legal framework for elections in Nigeria needs to be revoked because the election had shown that there are inconsistencies in the law.

“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,” Itodo added.

A member of the House of Representatives from Plateau State, Dachung Musa Bagos, told the CSOs to monitor Nigerian elections from the root to ensure proper accountability.