The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday, August 26, said it was learn from the recently conducted Ekiti and Osun governorship elections ahead of 2023 general elections.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, made this known in Abuja at the Yiaga Africa Post-election Roundtable and Public Presentation of Final Report on the Observation of the 2022 Ekiti and Osun Governorship Elections.
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Yakubu, represented by Mr Festus Okoye , INEC Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, said the commission would continue to listen and learn from valuable lessons from those who observed the governorship elections.
He said;
I want to seize this opportunity to assure Nigerians that this present commission will be bold and courageous in prosecuting the 2023 general elections.
We will continue to harvest lessons from the Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and the Osun governorship elections in shaping the way we approach the 2023 general election.
We are going to harvest all the good practices, we are also going to look at some of the those issues we did not do so well and we will improve on them.
Our assurance is that this commission will not lower the bar and we are going to continue to upload polling unit results to our INEC results viewing portal this commission will not depart from it.
On Citizens’ InvolvementĀ
Yakubu said that citizens would be involved at every inch of the process in terms of knowing what is going on at the various polling units through INEC,s processes and procedures.
He added the commission would continue to also manage the results collation process transparently.
The INEC Chairman encouraged civil society organisations, the media, political parties and all the critical stakeholders to study the Electoral Act 2022 and have a working knowledge of the act.
He said unless there is good knowledge of the document, it would be very difficult to follow the trajectory of the electoral process , the innovations and some of the changes the commission would make.
He also pleaded for the understanding and cooperation of Nigerians.
We recognise the fact that the 2023 elections will be challenging, but we have the capacity and we also have the courage to face those challenges in a very broad and courageous manner.
Dr Hussain Abdu, Board Chair, Yiaga Africa, said the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections marked a very significant turning point for electoral history in the country.
He said this was more important as they were held after the amendment of the Electoral Act, particularly the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
