The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can perform better in the March 18 gubernatorial and state assembly elections than it did in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, according to Yakubu Maikyau, president of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Following the conduct of the presidential elections, which had certain issues, notably the failure to electronically upload polling unit results in real time as promised by the commission before the polls, the electoral body has been criticized by different organizations.
On Thursday's episode of Politics Today on Channels Television, Maikyau claimed that INEC had taken some lessons from the previous election and was prepared to perform better on Saturday.
"I will share my expectations. Because I was an observer in the recent election, which was held on the 25th of February, I still think INEC can perform better than it did. I traveled around the Federal Capital Territory, and we did not see the same kind of deployment of electoral materials as we have this time around prior to the March 18 governorship and state houses of assembly elections." That was on Thursday before the election on February 25, 2023.
"Therefore, what that tells me is that INEC is purposefully taking the necessary steps to address any mistakes we observed during the election that was place on the 25th. This is why, before to this talk, we observed the distribution of electoral materials to various locations across the nation, something we didn't see before the February 25 election."
Hence, Maikyau added, "I think INEC has learned some lessons from the previous elections and that they are moving to fix some of those mistakes."
He encouraged INEC to make sure that the confidence that had been built up before the election is maintained so that people can accept the results and be pleased that what they had demonstrated genuinely showed the results.
The NBA president urged the commission to see to it that anyone found to be wanting in their performance of their duties must be reported to the police so that their cases may be set up for prosecution.
Source: Channels Television
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