Contrary to claims in some quarters that the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu failed to deliver in the recently concluded general elections, about 75 political parties under the aegis of Inter-Party Advisory Council on Monday passed a vote of confidence on him, declaring the whole exercise as satisfactory.
The Council made its position known in a Communique read to newsmen after a national roundtable on the last elections organized by the Centre for Transparency Advocacy and chairmen of the political parties in Abuja.
“The roundtable, after a comprehensive review of the conduct of the 2019 general elections, passes a vote of confidence on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, for the successful conduct of the election.
“The roundtable notes with satisfaction the transparency in communication and regular engagement of stakeholders at the national, state and local government levels which ensured that everybody was carried along in the process. The roundtable indicts the security agencies for the lapses in the election due largely to their collusion with unscrupulous politicians and negligence to do their jobs.”
According to Punch, the Council also commended the National Assembly for responding to the challenging needs for a responsive legal framework for the conduct of the elections but regretted that non-signing of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill was a major setback on the quality of the electoral process.
They, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sign the Bill into law.
“The roundtable calls on the National Assembly to immediately re-present to President Muhammadu Buhari the amended electoral and calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to do the needful to ensure that the bill is signed into law.
“The roundtable demands the establishment of electoral offences tribunal to try electoral offenders, which should be structured to take off less than a month after election petition tribunal hearings have concluded. Political parties and young people should leverage on the provisions of the Not Too Young to Run Act to increase political participation in subsequent elections.”
The council’s Deputy National Chairman, Jeff Ojirika, read the communique of the roundtable which was attended by a former Vice President of Sierra Leone, Samuel Sam-Sumana.
