CDD seeks improved performance by INEC
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to apply lessons learnt from its conduct of the presidential poll of February 25 to improve on the conduct of the state elections.
The Chair of the CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC), Professor Adele Jinadu and CDD Director, Idayat Hassan gave the advice during a news briefing and opening of the EAC in Abuja on Friday.
CDD expressed hope that the extra time INEC had would help address the flaws earlier observed during the last elections.
“The functionality of the BVAS machines and improved use of the INEC results viewing platform (IReV) will also be critical for the credibility of the polls as this would enhance greater election transparency, but this can still be undermined by compromised INEC officials and ad-hoc staff”.
CDD suggested that INEC reprimand and suspend those found to be colliding with political actors in their state.“We encourage all ad-hoc INEC staff to abide by the Commission’s code of conduct in the discharge of their duties on election day and when announcing results, while the prompt submission of polling unit results to IReV remains critical and will support an improved perception of INECs performance”.
The group noted that “states that will hold gubernatorial polls with the most incidents of political violence since 1 January 2023 according to the Nigeria Election Violence Tracker are Lagos, Rivers, Kano, Delta and Anambra – with Kano state being the most recorded deaths cases”.
CDD based on its mapping, predicted that violence linked to the states elections could worsen due to the activities of armed groups quasi-security outfits. Such as Yan Sakai, the Civilian Joint Task Force, Neighborhood Watch, Amotekun and Ebubeagu.
Reporting by Julian Osamoto