2019: INEC reviews guidelines for
election monitoring
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu
…Turns down applications from
support groups
…Warns staff to remain neutral
The Independent National Electoral
Commission has turned down applications by some support groups of candidates
contesting the 2019 general elections to monitor the elections, its chairman,
Prof. Mahmo0d Yakubu, has said.
According to him, only neutral observers
would be accredited, adding that the guidelines for the accreditation of
election observers had also been revised.
The commission said that all
officials of the commission must remain neutral in the discharge of their
duties and committed to protecting the sanctity of the process.
He said, “As we approach the 2019
general elections, the commission will pay attention to the conduct of our own
officials from the headquarters to the State and Local government areas,
including ad-hoc staff engaged in or their agents to subvert the electoral
process.
“We will not tolerate the complicity
of staff with political actors or their agents to subvert the electoral
process. All officials of the commission
must remain neutral in the discharge of their duties and committed to
protecting the sanctity of the process.”
Yakubu stated these in Abuja on
Friday during the inauguration of the new Secretary of INEC, Mrs. Rose
Oriaran-Anthony, where he vowed that the commission would not tolerate the
complicity of it staff with political actors or their agents to subvert the
electoral process in the forthcoming elections.
Oriaran-Anthony is the third
Secretary of INEC and the second woman to be so appointed since Nigeria’s
return to democracy in 1999.
She had served the commission for 28
years, rising to the position of a Director before her appointment.
Yakubu described the application by
support groups of candidates contesting the 2019 general elections as election
observers as “unacceptable.”
The INEC chairman stressed that
election observers should be neutral groups who should only be interested in
the process and not agents of political parties, candidates or campaign
organisations.
He explained that the purpose of
accrediting observers for elections remained a noble exercise intended to
increase the transparency of the process.
Yakubu said that the reports of
observers also serve as a useful feedback mechanism for strengthening the
electoral process.
Speaking further on the request of
some support groups of candidates contesting elections to observe the
elections, Yakubu said such requests had no basis
He said, “Similarly, for the 2019
general elections, the commission has been inundated by applications from
several groups within the country for accreditation to observe the elections,
including support groups of candidates contesting in the elections.
“This is unacceptable to the
commission. Observers are neutral groups interested only in the process and not
agents of political parties, candidates or campaign. The purpose of accrediting
observers for elections is a noble one intended to increase the transparency
and openness of the process.
“It is therefore counter-productive
for such an important process to become an all-comers business. Going forward,
the commission has revised the guidelines for the accreditation of (election)
observers. Interested organisations are required to apply to the commission.”
The details of the application
process, he said, would be published this weekend and early next week in
national newspapers and on the INEC website.
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