From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has tasked Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), to extend its scrutiny to the activities of Political Parties primaries and State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs).
This he said, will deepen democracy in Nigeria.
INEC chairman, made the call when a coalition of Civil Society Organisations, under the aegis of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, led by its convener, Mr. Yinusa Z Ya’u paid him a visit at INEC Headquarters, Abuja.
He commended the CSOs’ contributions to the steady improvement witnessed in the democratic process and conduct of elections in Nigeria.
According to him, “No matter what INEC does, if other actors are not ready to play by the rules or in sync, we’ll continue to face challenges. The civil society has been instrumental to the positive changes we are seeing.
“Remember, most of the improvements that you see in the conduct of elections are as a result of the activism of the civil society. But sometimes, the civil society is quiet about other (types of) elections.
“Take the conduct of party primaries for instance. Political parties conduct primary elections and INEC conducts secondary elections. So, the most important process is actually the primaries conducted by political parties as the candidates they present that will be the one on the ballot papers.
Speaking on the local government election precisely, he said, Cvil Society appears unperturbed by the conduct of local government elections by the SIECs.
“Elections are conducted at the local government level by the SIECs and they declare all the candidates of the ruling party winners. Yet, we don’t hear anything from the civil society”, he averred.
He underscored the importance of credible party primaries, insisting that flawed primary elections have direct negative impact on the entire electoral process since the public would have no choice than to pick from the various candidates that emerged from such primaries.
In his remarks, the Team Leader, Yau, noted that members of the Civil Society Situation Room share a common interest with INEC in the area of consolidating democracy and the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
His word: “Coalition members had been mobilising citizens for Permanent Voter Card (PVC) collection and engaging in campaigns aimed at achieving peaceful polls in Edo state”, he said.
He also added that the group is imploring political parties to play by the rules and tell their members not to undermine the electoral process.
