Connected Development (CODE) on Thursday, appealed to the country’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct free, fair and credible polls for Saturday’s governorship and state houses of assembly elections, inorder to rebuild trust of the electorates and save the country’s democracy.
Speaking at the pre-election press briefing, CODE Chief Executive, Hamza Lawal, also advised that the electoral body avoid repeat of errors displayed in the conduct of the 25th February presidential elections.
With the deployment of Uzabe technology by observers in the presidential election, the organisation said it recorded many cases of widespread irregularities in parts of the country and urged INEC to address these issues to enable citizens exercise their civic duty without unnecessary hitches and glitches.
According to the Chief Executive, “The BVAS and IREV technologies put a lot of faith in the electorate and this forthcoming election is another opportunity for INEC to redeem its image and ensure that their technology is functional and INEC’s guidelines on its usage are adhered to. This is a call to INEC to restore the citizens’ confidence in our democracy.
“Another crucial point to address is the percentage of voters recorded for Presidential and National elections. At 27%, Nigeria recorded its lowest voter turnout despite recording the 87.2m PVC’s collected. From our reports, there were many cases of technical disenfranchisement where materials were not deployed to many Polling units across the country, and many other cases, INEC officials arrived late to polling stations while in some cases, the BVAS machine failed, with no replacement provided, and for these reasons, thousands or perhaps millions of Nigerians were not able to cast their ballot.
“While we expect INEC to have addressed these issues, it’s important to drum the fact that the general outcome of the 2023 elections will determine citizen’s engagement and participation in our democratic processes in the future and so it is pertinent that INEC led by Chairman Yakubu Mahmood step up and ensure a seamless gubernatorial and state assembly election. It’s the first step towards rebuilding trust in the electorate and it’s important to save our democracy.
“In many polling units across the country, voter access was compromised causing unnecessary delays and poor election conduct. We call on INEC to adhere to its guidelines and effect adequate measures to tackle these issues as we vote come Saturday.
“As Nigerians prepare to go to the polls for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, Connected Development and her partners appeal to INEC to ensure that the many challenges that marred the credibility of the Presidential election should be handled; ensure a swift deployment and early opening of polls is put in place, professional conduct of security personnel, and INEC’s strict adherence to the use of BVAS for biometric accreditation, and electronic transmission of results from polling unit as stipulated by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC 2023 Election guidelines for the conduct of election”.
On the declaration of Oro festival by Lagos State on the election day, Lawal called on the state government to call it off so that citizens can come out freely to execise their civic rights.
He said, “Lagos State has declared Oro festival when there’s an election. Typically there’s no supposed to be any activity during elections because of the curfew. We suspect that this might be strategy to further disenfranchise voters and call on the Lagos State government and law enforcement agencies to address and put a stop to any activity that threatens the participation of the electorates in this elections. We also call on security agencies to also pay attention to identified volatile states and curb any stem of violence”.
Also speaking, Director, Governance and Democracy CODE, Emmanuel Njoku noted that there was no significant arrest of election offenders in the 25th February presidential polls. He expressed concern that these offenders might operate in the same spirit to disrupt the governorship and state houses of assembly polls.
He however urged security agencies to ensure that voters and materials are protected and a credible election conducted.
