INEC begins review of the 2023 General Elections

The chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday began meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on the just concluded general election. The meeting is a weeklong meeting taking place at the INEC headquarters, Abuja.

At the meeting, INEC Chairman made it known that since the conclusion of the election, diverse opinions have been expressed by political parties, candidates, observers, analysts and the general public on aspects of the elections that took place in February and March. On remarks about the election, he stressed that it was necessary to look at the entire process before, during and after the election to make an informed assessment:

1. Compared to some previous elections, INEC believed that the 2023 General Election was one of the most meticulously prepared for in recent times.
2. The security challenges which threatened to derail the elections did not materialize.
3. Despite currency and fuel challenges and widespread attacks on our personnel and facilities nationwide, the Commission proceeded with the election as scheduled.
4. The first set of elections, the Presidential and National Assembly, held as planned for the first time in the last four General Elections conducted in the country.
5. Accreditation of voters using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS has generally been scored very high by voters. (BVAS accreditation Success rate stood at 98% compared to the Smart Card Reader’s 29.2% at the 2019 Election).
6. Overall outlook suggests that it was a fair reflection of a complex multi-party democracy.

Justifying INEC’s stance on the elections:

1. Five political parties produced State Governors
2. Seven parties won Senatorial seats
3. Eight are represented in the House of Representatives and nine in State Houses of Assembly.

Clearly, the 10th National Assembly is certainly the most diverse in party representation since 1999. On Challenges, he acknowledged that they were:

1. Structural, infrastructural and human in nature.
2. There was evidence of infractions during the election, including the prosecution of offenders.
3. RECs were not managing their briefs as expected, adding that administrative actions have already been taken against such officials.

Issues for review include:

1. The operational processes for Continuous Voter Registration CVR and general elections, including planning, organization, coordination and evaluation of activities, focusing particularly on such specific issues as the issuance of voters’ cards, logistics, delivery of materials, deployment of personnel, etc.
2. The legal framework for the conduct of elections with a view to addressing any key legal challenges that may have arisen prior to the 2023 General Election which was not envisaged before the election.
3. Technologies deployed in the electoral process, including the INEC Voter Enrolment Device IVED; INEC Result Viewing Portal IReV; Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS; party nomination portal; observer, media and polling/collation agents’ accreditation portals etc., focusing particularly on their performance.
4. Effectiveness of overall administrative procedures and channels within the Commission in the coordination and execution of pre-election, election and post-election activities.
5. Political party registration, party primaries and nomination of candidates for the 2023 General Election, as well as monitoring of the processes.
6. Process of recruitment, training, deployment and performance of all categories of ad-hoc staff during CVR and the General Election.
7. Strengthening the Commission’s cooperation and relations with other bodies such as MDAs, NGOs etc. and any other issues in the electoral process that are likely to impact the work of the Commission in future.

On Electoral offenders:

“I can also confirm that we have received 215 case files from the Nigeria Police following their arrest and the conclusion of the investigation into electoral offences arising from the 2023 General Election. We are working with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to prosecute the alleged offenders. Already, the NBA has submitted a list of 427 lawyers across the country who have volunteered to render pro bono services to the Commission.“

Similarly, he said INEC was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on the prosecution of cases relating to vote buying and associated violations. The next few weeks, several internal debriefing meetings will be held, culminating in engagements with stakeholders, which will see RECs lead the discussions on all aspects of the election from preparations, conduct and aftermath.