CSO To INEC Chairman: Apologise To Nigerians Over 2023 Elections

CSO To INEC Chairman: Apologise To Nigerians Over 2023 Elections

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to apologise for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

The convener, Ene Obi, maintained that the election was marred by irregularities, especially as it concerns the technological input which was the highlight as allowed by the Electoral Act 2022.

She was speaking during the presentation of the final report on the elections.

“With all humility because we worked through and through and that is why we were distraught by the final result. We worked, everybody worked, INEC worked, the staff, and everybody was committed, but the result we saw is what we have declared.

“We were quite disappointed with what came out because we think we have the capacity to have done better. And we are still asking the INEC Chairman to apologise to Nigerians because of the electoral issues. We ask for an apology because we asked the INEC Chairman if the technology would work but the technology was disappointing,” she said.

However, a dissenting voice from the group cautioned the convener to be circumspect in making demands that stem out of personal interest rather than that of the group.

“We know the perennial logistic challenges; we know the issue of voters’ suppression. Lagos has 13,000 polling units, in what number of units were voters suppressed, and what then is the consequence of that suppression in the overall aspect of the election?

“So for me, we should put up a report that is backed by science and technology and not the feelings and emotions of people who decided to be partisans with one eye closed and pretending to be civil society organization. And I think those part of the report about INEC apologizing and all of those things are the personal statements which are not included in the report.”