Grace Okon
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu the INEC Chairman said using money to persuade delegate during primaries by politician is a source of concern.
He made this disclosure yesterday, in Abuja during the one day stakeholders meeting on “Emerging issues that would shape 2023 general election in Nigeria”.Prof. Yakubu said the commission had finalised guidelines for next year’s polls, adding that some 430 million ballot papers will be printed for the assignment.
He however, “assured Nigerians that the electoral body would work with anti-graft agencies to redress the issues of increasing insecurity and dissemination of fake news all over the federation.
Prof. Jega in his keynote address acknowledged the positive changes in INEC and also observed that the political class had made a lot of efforts to undermine the integrity of elections.
Prof. Attahiru Jega, warned the INEC commission against altering the election timetable, saying doing so, would amount to electoral disaster.
Furthermore, the Senior Fellow at the CDD, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, decried what he termed “extensive growth of banditry within the political class.” He said elections would remain a complicated issue in as much a significant percentage of the political class are crooks and criminals.
Also CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, on her part said that Nigeria is faced with harsh realities where parts of the country are embroiled in different forms of conflict and violence.
” These threats have serious implication for the conduct of election, both in terms of safety of election materials, personnel – and even voters”.
While adding that they also have the potential to affect voters turnout and legitimacy of the results.
