Ahead of the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Returning Officers are not pressured by some governors to falsify results in their states.
The Chairman of IPAC, Yabagi Sani, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the INEC 2023 election quarterly review meeting with political parties.
He said there was no doubt that the 2023 general election might have come and gone, but the echoes have continued to reverberate and appeared not in a hurry to fizzle out.
To this end, he said there was an obvious need for stakeholders to continue robust and sincere discussions on ways and strategies to make the electoral process more transparent, substantially credible and profoundly inclusive.
Yabagi noted that the non-transmission of the presidential election results on the IREV platform at the polling units due to technical glitches remains the elephant in the room.
According to him, Mr. Chairman as we approach the off season elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states in November, all hands must be on deck to ensure the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Returning Officers are not pressured by some governors and INEC itself to falsify results in their states.
Yabagi stressed that the Adamawa state 2023 governorship election result declaration saga and the embarrassment caused INEC and the nation at large was a case in point.
He stressed that the prosecution of the Adamawa REC in court by INEC was highly desirable and commendable.
The chairman stressed that equally desirable was action by all relevant security agencies to check the misuse of state resources in violation of the Electoral Act 2022 which prohibits “the use of state apparatus to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate”