Poised by the need to address the many challenges associated with the conduct of elections in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Enugu recently organized a stakeholders forum.
The forum which had in attendance participants drawn from the Media, Civil Society Organizations as well as the Inter Party Advisory Committee, IPAC, the umbrella body of registered political Parties in Nigeria was also intended to look into the new electoral bill.
The bill which is sponsored by Senators Ovie Omo- Agege, from Delta Central and Abubakar Kyari, from Borno, with 26 clauses, seeks to among other things, amend the Electoral Act to strengthen and protect Nigeria’s Democracy and also take care of specific issues plaguing the country’s elections and electoral processes.
Speaking during the forum, Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Enugu State, Emeka Ononamadu said that all elections conducted in the country and the state, especially the last general election has given everyone direction as to how elections are conducted in the country and some of the issues surrounding the process.
According to him, the INEC, as a body saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in the country, has consistently made efforts to ensure that the process is free, fair and credible as expected by the electorates.
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He said that some of the challenges experienced in the conduct of elections in the country, such as vote buying, are as a result of the unwillingness of political parties and other players to respect the demands of the process.
“The INEC, like other organizations will not finish making preparations to conduct elections in the country and still decide to sabotage the process” he maintained, adding that the commission is determined to henceforth, ensure that elections are credibly conducted in the country.
Speaking further, he said “we want to reassure the general public that we are ready to realize the objective of conducting credible elections in the country going forward. We shall continue to seek legal backing to all the issues related to the process”.
He explained that the conduct of election is a multi stakeholder’s affair which is why the commission thought it wise to bring together, individuals from the media, CSOs, traditional institution as well as other relevant stakeholders to critically look into the challenges bedeviling the process in the country.
The forum provided participants the opportunity to make inputs to the bill with the aim of better re positioning the electoral process in Nigeria.
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