EIGHTEEN registered political parties in the country, under the aegis of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, on Thursday, warned that electorates would no longer accept excuses that suggest that their quest for an the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deliver credible, inclusive and acceptable polls to Nigerians is not possible.
IPAC’s National Chairman, Engr. Yabagi Sani, gave the warning while briefing journalists after an emergency General Assembly meeting held at the Council’s Secretariat in Abuja.
He, nevertheless, disclosed that the political parties were in support of INEC’s rescheduling of the upcoming governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections from March 11 to 18.
According to him, adequate preparation by the electoral umpire will guarantee the integrity, credibility and transparency of the elections.
Sani said, “Adequate time is needed to ensure things are properly done as the destiny of over 200 million Nigerians are at stake.
“As a major stakeholder in the political process, IPAC has always urged the electoral umpire to ensure it starts early preparation for elections and seek more time, if necessary to ensure it conducts hitch-free, credible, inclusive and generally acceptable polls as Nigerians will not tolerate any excuse for poor performance as witnessed in the failure to upload results from Polling Units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time.”
However, the IPAC Chairman called on players in the political and civic space to provide maximum support and understanding to INEC so that it can discharge the crucial duty that may redefine the destiny of the nation.
He said, “IPAC urges all stakeholders in the electoral process, to please bear with the Commission as it puts its acts together for the March 18, 2023 Governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
“With the assurance that BVAS will function properly and results upload to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time, Nigerians and the international community expect free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful gubernatorial and legislative elections.
“The Commission should this time justify the confidence Nigerians reposed in it and improve on its performance in the disputed Presidential and National Assembly polls.”
The Council also urged security agents to sit up and be alive to their constitutional mandate to secure lives and property before, during and after elections.
Doing this, it said, would avert the violence and other security breaches witnessed during the presidential election.
Sani equally urged Nigerians to come out en masse on March 18 and vote for their preferred political parties, and ensure their votes count in the overall results.
“The ballot is sacrosanct, the will and mandate of the people freely given to a political party must be respected. This is the beauty of election and representative governance.
“Any attempt to manipulate the upcoming elections must be resisted. The era of vote buying and other irregularities that marred previous polls is over,” he stressed. (Vanguard)
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