2023: INEC expresses concern over denial of access to public space for campaign

By Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) expressed discomfiture over reported denial of political parties’ usage of public spaces for political campaigns and rallies by parties in government at federal and state levels.

The Commission said this negate the letters of the Peace Accord signed by political parties and their candidates while urging them to adhere strictly to the Accord.

This is as INEC berated clashes among supporters of political parties since commencement of campaign activities ahead of next year’s elections.

Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu expressed the worries on Tuesday in his remark at the Training of Master Trainers on Election Technology for the 2023 general election in Abuja.

Yakubu said “even as the Commission is working hard to ensure a credible process in the forthcoming elections, reports of clashes among parties and their supporters in some states of the country during the ongoing electioneering campaign is worrisome.

“So too is the reported denial of access to public facilities for parties and candidates in some states of the federation.”

Sounding note of caution, the chairman said: “Let me caution parties and their supporters to focus on issues and steer clear of attacks on each other. These are not only violations of the Electoral Act 2022 but also negate the voluntary commitment by all political parties and candidates to the letter and spirit of the Peace Accord signed about three weeks ago under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC).

“Parties, candidates and their supporters should not by acts of commission or omission further complicate the prevailing security situation in the country. A peaceful electioneering campaign is critical to the conduct of peaceful and credible elections.”

Yakubu said the Commission will continue to monitor the situation closely and will convene a meeting with leaders of political parties next week to discuss, among the other issues, the imperative of peaceful campaigns and equal access to public facilities.

“In the same vein, the Commission will also meet with the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week,” he added.

Speaking on INEC’s achievements at deploying technology in conduct of election, the chairman said the Commission has over the last two years, increased the deployment of technology in the elections in Nigeria.

He said: “Systems and portals have been designed and developed to cater for different electoral activities ranging from voter registration and accreditation, result transmission from the polling units, the nomination of candidates by political parties to the accreditation of polling agents, observers and journalists for elections.

“Of these innovations, most Nigerians are more familiar with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which doubles as a device for accreditation as well as the upload of the Polling Unit level result sheets to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time on election day.

“These innovations have increased transparency and public confidence in the electoral process. They are also part of the legal requirements for conducting elections in Nigeria. The combination of the BVAS and the IReV portal have come to stay as a means of voter accreditation and transmission of election results.”

According to him, from the experience of recent off-cycle elections, the Commission is convinced that a critical success factor in the deployment of technology in elections is training.

“We need to build the capacity of the staff involved not only to competently handle the devices during the accreditation process but also respond effectively to any glitches that may occur during elections.

Our plan for the 2023 General Election is to commence the training of election officials early and for a longer period of time for optimal understanding of the processes and procedures in order to serve Nigerians better. A key component of this effort is election technology,” he added.