We’re Approaching 2023 Polls With Highest Standard – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said it would not lower the bar for the 2023 general elections as it would continue to upload polling unit results to the INEC results viewing portal.

INEC chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this at the Yiaga Africa  post-election roundtable and public presentation of the final report on the observation of the 2022 Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.

Yakubu, represented by Mr Festus Okoye, the commissioner for information and education, said  the commission would continue to listen and learn valuable lessons from those who observed the governorship elections and improve on it.

“I want to seize this opportunity to assure Nigerians  that this present commission will be bold and courageous in prosecuting the 2023 general elections.

“We will continue to harvest lessons from the Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and the Osun  governorship  elections in shaping the way we approach the 2023 general elections.

“We are going to harvest all the good practices, we are also going to look at some of those issues we did not do so well and we will improve on them.

“Our assurance is that this commission will not lower the bar and we are going to  continue  to upload polling unit results to our INEC  results  viewing portal. This commission will not depart from it,” he said.

Yakubu said citizens would  be involved at every inch of the process in terms of knowing what is going on at the various polling  units through INEC’s processes and procedures, adding that INEC would continue to also manage the results  collation  process transparently.

Dr Hussain Abdu, the board chairman, Yiaga Africa, said the Ekiti and Osun elections marked  a very significant turning point for electoral history in the country.

The chairman of Inter-party Advisory  Council (IPAC) Mr Yabagi Sani, advise Yiaga Africa and INEC to work closely with political parties ahead of the election because it would be a watershed in the journey of entrenching democracy in Nigeria.