Politics
By Anthony Isibor
THE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has reiterated the commitment of the Commission to conducting only credible elections in the country.
Speaking at the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP, in Lagos on Thursday, October 6, 2022, Yakubu, who was the guest speaker, said that votes would continue to count and that the Commission would be the sole determinant of elections.
“For this reason, the Commission has introduced new innovations supported by the deployment of appropriate technology to protect the sanctity of the choice made by Nigerians at the poll, ranging from voter registration, to voter accreditation, the deployment of the Bio-Model Voters Accreditation System, B-VAS, with its dual finger print and facial biometric accreditation processes to ensure that only genuine voters are accredited before and during the election.
Yakubu noted that the introduction of the facial biometric has overcome the challenges around the finger-print authentication.
He explained that the BVAS has come to stay and that only those who are qualified for the 2023 election will be accredited and allowed to vote. ‘No other way’.
“The Electoral Act of 2022 has also fortified the Electoral Commission to ensure that only those who come out for accreditation using the BVAS will vote. Genuine voters will be accredited genuinely and they will vote,” he added.
Similarly, Uma Ardo, Founder, Centre for Alternative Policy Perspectives and Strategy said that the stability of the Electoral Commission would go a long way in ensuring more credible elections and commended the introduction of technology in Nigeria’s electoral process
Urging politicians to behave themselves, Ardo expressed confidence in the experience of the INEC leadership garnered from conducting two consecutive elections and the ability to transmit that experience into conducting a more credible election come 2023.
He also urged politicians to understand that in an election, there must be winners and losers and they must be ready to accept results when they are announced.
“INEC is like efficiency in an island of huge inefficiency. For the first time in the history of the country, INEC leadership will be conducting two consecutive elections.
“If we continue having stability in INEC, we will reduce rigging in our elections,” he added.
In her remarks, Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, of FORD Foundation commended INEC for ensuring the passage of the electoral bill into law.
According to her, the electoral act is a landmark decision in the country’s electoral journey and must be applauded.
“I think that the electoral act is a quantum leap to what we think we can achieve with elections. So I think that being able to put it together and ensuring that it is now the law we have for elections is a mighty achievement.
“We need to commend also the use of technology. Because we recognize that there is so much we can do in terms of making elections a lot more credible if we are able to use technology,” she said.
She, however, called on INEC to continue to fine tune the use of technology to completely cut down on the use of ballot papers so as to avoid wastage, and urged the media to find more independent means of generating revenues to finance their media outlets without depending on the government or others.
“We have to look for how other countries create resources for the press. Because, once you start asking somebody who wants their news out to pay for that news, and you report it as news, then it is actually no longer news,” she said.
According to her, there are many ways in which the press can generate money and still remain independent.
“An independent press is extremely important and critical in a democracy. If you don’t have an independent vocal press, then you don’t have a democracy to a large extent because it is the press that highlights what goes on, and if they are not independent, then that is a major challenge,” she added.
In his contribution, Solomon E. Arase, former Inspector General of Police, who spoke on the role of the police in election security, noted that Nigerians are very difficult people and will never accept defeat and called on police officers to think outside the box to be able to ensure security during elections.
According to him, all political parties manipulate elections, especially in their areas of political stronghold.
He explained that it is only when they try to control the terrain of others that there are issues and called for sincere punishment for every criminal activity to serve as deterrence to others.
According to him, the major challenge that the security agencies will face in the coming elections will be the issue of shortage in manpower and the issue of command and control among the various security bodies.
“In terms of manpower deployment, we have had off season elections in Ekiti, Osun, and Anambra states. So it was easy to mobilize men and materials to take to those areas.
“The election that is coming up next year, the police will not have that privilege, because everybody will be manning their elections in their own state,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maureen Chigbo, President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOP, and Publisher of Realnews Magazine, in opening remarks thanked all the guests present at the event for finding time to honour the Guild with their presence and expressed confidence in the quality of the panelists to discuss the theme of the conference.
She also assured the public of the quality of the members of the Guild, who are thorough professionals, who have over 10 years of media industry experience.
A.I
Tags: Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa GOCOP INEC Maureen Chigbo Prof. Mahmood Yakubu Solomon E. Arase Uma Ardo
