The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released a statement reacting to the report by National and International Election observers in the 2019 general elections, where they submitted that the just concluded general elections in Nigeria conducted by the Commission were below the standard set by the Professor Jega electoral commission in 2015 elections.
The National and International Election observers in the 2019 general elections had on Tuesday 30th July 2019 released their report in Abuja said INEC appeared ill-prepared for the elections which were marred by violence, voter intimidation, vote-stealing, and voter apathy.
The report by National and International Election observers also examined the role of the Nigerian government, security agencies, and political parties in undermining the country’s electoral process, which INEC promised to study and give a statement soon.
INEC in a statement released by the Rotimi Oyekanmi, who is the spokesperson to INEC chairman, said the report by the Electoral observers, would study the report, alongside other related issues, saying:
“In line with its commitment to improving the electoral system, the Commission has just completed its internal review process and will harvest all the recommendations from this and other observer reports to deepen democracy in Nigeria,”
“The commission is conscious of its responsibilities and expectations of all Nigerians and is determined to ensure that free, fair and credible elections are conducted at all times.”
The report by the civil society groups recommended that INEC should commence an immediate “push” for reforms of Nigeria’s electoral process.
“The Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the National Assembly and declined by the President, should be re-introduced, passed by the National Assembly and transmitted to the President for Assent.
“In addition, amendments to the Electoral Act should include altering section 68, that gives unquestioning powers to the Returning Officer to declare results for an election even where such Returning Officer may have done so dubiously or as a result of coercion.
“Criminal infractions committed en route to the declaration of results should also compel the review of results announced from such incident without requiring that remedial action be only possible through litigation at either the election Tribunal level or in the Courts,” the report said.