Chen Education and Development Empowerment (CEDE), a non-profit organisation (NGO), has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to redeem its image during the March 11 elections.
At a press conference held in Abuja on Tuesday, Cynthia Anaele, CEDE’s executive director, said the experiences of Nigerians during the election contradicted the assurances made by INEC during the build-up to the electioneering period.
Anaele said the electoral body must redeem the country’s electoral values by fixing all the challenges that tainted the February 25 presidential and national assembly polls.
“CEDE notes the incidents of violence and voter suppression in several states, north and south. There were reports of assault on INEC staff, election materials, and some voters in a number of places as a result of security flaws. And more significantly, INEC was unable to quickly update the iRev Portal for citizens to monitor poll results, despite all its assurances,” Anaele said.
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“At CEDE, we are confident that democracy still remains the best option for governance, therefore the democratic process should not only be transparent, but should be seen to be transparent.
“We call on INEC to investigate the various infractions in the cause of the presidential elections and where anybody is found to be culpable, they should be prosecuted.
“Knowing that the integrity of any electoral system is critical to the legitimacy of any government that emerges from it, going forward, the INEC must do more to redeem its image by ensuring that the governorship and states houses of assembly elections is free, fair, credible, and transparent.
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“INEC must quickly fix whatever they claim is the challenge that led to its inability to upload all results to its iRev portal as it promised Nigerians.”
The NGO also urged political actors to desist from utterances and actions that can fuel the tension across the country.
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