The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has enjoined the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to ensure strict adherence to the Electoral Act in the upcoming governorship and House of Assemblies polls.
TMG Chairman, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani) made the call in the group’s report on the ongoing Nigeria’s general elections.
Recall that the Presidential and National Assembly NASS elections held across the State of Federation last Saturday, February 25.
TMG in the release said: “Strict adherence to the Electoral Act 2022 must be observed to ensure electoral credibility in Nigeria”.
It recommended further: “Electoral offenders of any kind must be punished under the laws of the country to dissuade other from perpetrating electoral offences in Nigeria
“Those caught in the act of openly intimidating and suppressing voters at polling units must be brought to book no matter how highly placed they are.
“The impunity of the state governors during elections must be addressed through legal means to reduce their overbearing interference in elections.
.”INEC must review all evidence of electoral malpractices presented before it
“Political party and party processes must be reformed to tackle issues of money bags and godfatherism in Nigeria’s politics. Where the political parties fail to get it right, it is absolutely impossible for Nigeria to get its general election right.
“Issue-based campaigns must take root in the political process in Nigeria rather than rely on identity mobilization of voters. The place of debates must take legal place in the system to create room for healthy discussion and citizens’ accountability.
“EFCC And ICPC should continue with their good work to reduce the commercialization of vote buying and arrest both the enablers, middlemen, and receivers during the upcoming elections”.
TMG stated that the conduct of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections were poor, especially the insistence of the commission to jettison immediate result transmission from polling units across the country. This singular act has given room for suspicion of human interference and manipulation of results and could truncate the will of the people as freely expressed at the poll.
Rafsanjani noted that the 2023 general elections were expected to usher in a much more improved and digitized electoral process in Nigeria, adding that it is in this regard that INEC received an unprecedented whooping sum of 355 billion Naira to conduct a credible election. Despite this humongous financial commitment, and the incredible support received from the international community and civil society organisations, INEC failed to deliver on a straightforward mandate of meeting the expectations of Nigerians.
As the country approaches the gubernatorial and state assembly elections, TMG urged citizens to not let their spirits be dampened, insisting that INEC needs to redeem itself by conducting a much more credible election on March 11, 2023 across the country.
However, TMG admitted that the general conduct of the election across the country was peaceful in most parts, as voting occurred without recourse to violence.
“⁹Notably, this was also largely occasioned by the deployment of security personnel across the country. Despite these gains, TMG in some cases observed incidences of voter intimidation and suppression, particularly in Lagos and Rivers States. In Lagos for instance, voters were threatened by thugs to vote for a certain party and candidate or stay away from voting completely. Voter intimidation and suppression were also evident in the violent conduct and disruption of polls as recorded in these two states where political thugs carted away, burnt, and destroyed election materials.
On BVAs and IREv TMG said while the voting process was reported to be smooth in some polling units, there were reports of widespread polling irregularities bordering around malfunction of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) device, poor deployment of sensitive materials, late commencement of the proceeding and outright absence of INEC staff in a number of polling units across the country.
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