Chairmen of seventy-five political parties on Monday in Abuja passed a vote of confidence on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, declaring that in spite of the challenges that rocked the elections, the Commission was able to score some good marks.
The political parties stated this in a three-page communique endorsed on their behalf by the Chairman of C4C party, Hon. Jeff Ojinika, Acting Executive Director of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) Ms Faith Nwadishi, who are the co-organisers and the Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Chief Peter Ameh.
The event, which also featured a Special address by the former Vice President of Sierra-Leone, Alhaji Sam Sumana, saw the party leaders presenting a report of their assessment of the elections.
Each of the Chairmen and Secretaries in some cases pinpointed aspects of the elections that should be improved upon, even as they declared that INEC under Prof Yakubu had demonstrated readiness to conduct an election with world-class standards.
The Communique, which was presented by Ojinika indicated that the Party leaders are appreciative of the show of independence by INEC, which they said was reflected in the rejection of candidates of the ruling party in some states as well as the harassment and kidnap of some staff of the commission in some other places.
Welcoming participants to the event, the Acting Executive Director, Centre for Transparent Advocacy (CTA), Faith Nwadishi, said that INEC as the umpire of the general elections proved quite independent in the way and manner it responded to the unexpected challenges thrown its way by the stakeholders in the process and other unforeseen circumstances during the last general election.
She said: “Of note is how it bravely prevented the ruling party from fielding candidates in Zamfara in its determination to follow the rules no matter whose ox is gored. More crucially, on the ground, during election and voting day, it refused to be intimidated by threats and violence unleashed on its officials and ad-hoc staff leading to some certificates of return being withheld by INEC though this is now subject to litigations.
The CTA director further said that political parties must take internal democracy seriously to ensure democracy take proper roots in Nigeria.
While presenting the Communique of a two-day Roundtable on election evaluation and reports presentation, the party leaders blamed security operatives, particularly the military and the police for some of the shortcomings witnessed during the election.
They also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to speedily sign the Electoral Amendment bill into law, to save the country from the challenges associated with the current electoral law.
The National Roundtable with the theme: “The Role and Performances of Stakeholders in the 2019 General Elections, Issues, Challenges and Prospects,” was chaired by Prof Remi Aiyede of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan and was moderated by Prof. Anthony Olusanya of the Osun State University.
Also in attendance were leaders of Civil Society Organisations, security agencies and representatives of INEC.
