INEC demands renewed focus on Party Primaries, LG Polls

By Omeiza Ajayi

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has declared that in order to deepen democracy and enhance the conduct of elections in Nigeria, Civil Society Organizations CSOs must extend their scrutiny to activities of Political Parties and State Independent Electoral Commissions SIECs.

Noting that quality of elected leaders across the country is determined by the quality of political party primaries, Yakubu also wondered why CSOs often pay little attention to the conduct of local government elections.

Yakubu was speaking when a coalition of civil society organizations, under the aegis of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, led by its convener, Mr. Yinusa Z. Ya’u paid a visit to the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.

While commending the contributions of the civil society community to the steady improvement witnessed in the democratic process and conduct of elections in Nigeria, Prof. Yakubu also averred that more needs to be done by the CSOs to get other stakeholders more committed to deepening democracy.

He said; “No matter what INEC does, if other actors are not ready to play by the rules or in sync, we will continue to face challenges”.

While highlighting some of the areas where adjustments by stakeholders in the electoral process are necessary, the INEC Chairman added that the civil society has been instrumental to the positive changes seen in Nigeria electoral democracy.

“Remember, most of the improvements that you see in the conduct of elections are as a result of the activism of the civil society. But sometimes, the civil society is quiet about other (types of) elections”, he said.

Yakubu reiterated the importance of having credible party primaries, insisting that flawed primary elections have direct negative impact on the entire electoral process since the voting public would have no choice than to pick from the various candidates who emerged from such primaries.

“Take the conduct of party primaries for instance. Political parties conduct primary elections (and) INEC conducts secondary elections. So, the most important process is actually the primaries conducted by political parties.  It is the candidates they present that we put on the ballot. Citizens can only choose from the candidates presented by political parties.

“Elections are conducted at the local government level by the SIECs and they declare all the candidates of the ruling party winners. Yet, we don’t hear anything from the civil society. At INEC, we appreciate constructive criticisms. It is an ingredient for change, but we want all the components of elections to be alright. We cannot have one component going right and another going the other way”, he added.

The Team Leader, Yau, in his remarks, noted that members of the Civil Society Situation Room share a common interest with INEC in the area of consolidating democracy and the conduct of elections in Nigeria.

According to him, the coalition members had been mobilizing citizens for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards PVCs and engaging in campaigns aimed at achieving peaceful polls in Edo state.

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