Press Statement
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has counseled the reappointed
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.
Mahmood Yakubu, to go to Ghana and United States and take a study from
their electoral bodies on how to conduct free, fair, transparent and
credible general election.
The PDP restates its counsel to Prof. Yakubu not to recourse to excuses
but to use the more than two years ahead of the 2023 general election to
rejig our electoral commission and work out legislations and operational
rules that will guarantee a free, credible and all-inclusive electoral
process.
The party charges Prof. Yakubu to learn from the Ghana electoral
commission, which is making more room for a more all-inclusive electoral
process by kick-starting special voting system to enable personnel of
critical service providers cast their ballots days ahead of the December
7, election date.
The PDP also advised the INEC Chairman to study how the United States
credibly conducted a keenly contested 2020 Presidential election without
recourse to government influence and use of security to suppress the
wishes of citizens as expressed at the polling units.
The PDP urges the INEC Chairman to engage political stakeholders for
legislations, rules and field procedures, so as to curb violence, ensure
the security of electoral materials and guarantee the safety of voters.
The INEC Chairman should initiate processes and procedures that will
guarantee prompt arrival of ballot materials, rapid accreditation and
voting; instant transmission of results from polling units as well as
seamless collation of figures.
Our party demands Prof. Yakubu to improve on legislations that restrict
the involvement of security agencies in voting and collation processes,
check underage and alien voters, vote-buying, alteration of results and
manipulation of voter register.
The PDP urges Prof. Yakubu to pursue an amendment to the electoral act
to make it mandatory for INEC to publish voter register online, thus
terminating the doctoring of the register and accreditation process.
It is therefore instructive to restate that with the new appointment,
Prof Yakubu has been given an ample time and opportunity to redeem the
image of the commission and give our nation a credible election that
will be devoid of the failures, disappointments, miscarriages and
litigations that characterized his first five years tenure.
Our party urges the reappointed INEC Chairman to note that the 2023
general election will hugely impact on the fate of over 200 million
Nigerians. As such, he must ensure that the nation does not go down in
his hands.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
