Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), have called on security agencies to ensure safety of electoral materials in 2023 presidential elections in the country.
Both bodies, speaking through their chief executives at their situation rooms, called on security agencies to ensure safety of electoral materials.
President of the NBA, Mr Yakubu Maikyau said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should be commended for its quick responses to emergency situations during the election.
According to him, the use of military in the election was necessitated by the security challenges the country is facing at the moment.
The NBA president said, “Late arrival of materials led to the late commencement of the election. We commend INEC for ensuring that no one is disenfranchised. The INEC has been very responsive to our complaint. I have had course to speak to the chairman directly and some of the issues we talked about received immediate attention.
“We got report that voting continued until very early hours of today (yesterday). We commend INEC and with its proactiveness, it has earned the confidence of Nigerians to conduct a credible election. So far, the turnout has been very impressive and Nigerians all over has demonstrated willingness to elect leader that will have legitimacy.
“The future we all crave for is here and we commend Nigerians for their resilience, even, in the rain, they came out to exercise their civic duty.”
On his part, the executive secretary of the NHRC, Chief Anthony Ojukwu, decried the disenfranchisement of eligible voters in the ongoing presidential and national assembly elections across the country.
Presenting the NHRC’s preliminary statement of the election to newsmen in Abuja, Ojukwu said eligible voters were denied voting in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi states, even though he commended the impressive turn-out of voters for the elections.
He said the commission mobilised 800 personnel to monitor the elections across the country and that the reports from the monitors and calls received in the Human Rights Situation Room, launched last Friday revealed that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission and electoral materials arrived late in many polling units causing delays in accreditation and voting in many polling units across the country.
