- The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed optimism over new measures being put in place to engender transparency in the electoral system.
The Independent National Electoral Commission has expressed optimism over new measures being put in place to engender transparency in the electoral system.
The commission therefore called on Nigerians, particularly the media, to assist in exposing the political mafia frustrating free and fair elections in Nigeria.
According to him, INEC has continued to introduce measures to engender transparency and integrity in the electoral system.
He said, “Honestly, preparing for an election is a very serious matter. It involves a lot of technical processes and funds.
“Unfortunately, it appears that the more INEC tries to introduce measures to improve the electoral system, the more some politicians take steps to defeat such measures. This is very painful and some very concrete actions are needed to deal with the problem.
“Nigerians, especially the media should, for the sake of posterity, focus more on the negative impact of the disruptions of our elections, being engineered by some politicians and expose all those behind it.
“It is more about effectively tackling the mafia that is determined to ensure that elections are not free, fair and credible in this country.
“INEC is not a political party. We cannot possibly sabotage our own efforts. We are doing all we can to conduct free, fair and credible elections and we should all collectively check those few individuals who are doing everything they can to make nonsense of our democracy.”
Oyekanmi identified the introduction of the Form EC60E or “Peoples Result Sheet” as some of the lessons learnt from the 2019 general elections and recently held governorship polls in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
He said the idea of the Form EC60E was that after the sorting and counting of votes at the Polling Unit, the Presiding Officer shall fill the results of the election in the Form EC60E and paste it conspicuously at the said PU.
Oyekanmi added, “In fact, in our guidelines, failure to paste the form amounts to a dereliction of duty. We introduced this measure during the Anambra Governorship Election.
“Again, for 2019, we introduced an initiative whereby any eligible voter whose Permanent Voter Card has been correctly read by the Smart Card Reader but fails the biometrics protocol, could still be allowed to vote by fingerprinting in a box contained in the manual register of voters that has been provided at the polling unit. He or she will then be required to report for fingerprint capturing at a later date.
“However, the voter’s details in the manual register must correspond with the details revealed by the SCR.
“Also, to prevent any logistical complications, INEC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with transport and boat owners for 2019 general elections and the two governorship elections held on November 16.”
