Group tasks INEC on proper conduct of 2023 elections

A socio-political group, the Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts (ASSPT), on Monday charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the credible conduct of next month’s elections.

The Director of the ASSPT, Dr. Sam Amadi, who made the call at a press conference in Abuja, urged the commission to be fair to all the 18 political parties in the elections.

The group, however, faulted INEC for not checking the activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party and New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) on the elections.

Amadi said: “Some of the officials of these parties informed us that INEC officials did not notify them that their method will only provide online forms suitable for self-service and not for enterprise use cases. Some of them have also complained that the task requires more time than INEC allocates.

READ ALSO: INEC extends deadline for collection of PVCs to January 29

“While commending INEC for its responsiveness to issues that we and other credible stakeholders in the 2023 elections have generated for its attention, we urge the commission to recognise its constitutional obligation as a regulator to always insist on fair procedures that do not disadvantage any party or voting population.

“Specifically, we commend INEC for extending the deadline for collection of PVCs but urge it to ensure that all administrative changes required are made to ensure all registered voters who want to vote are able to collect their PVCs.

“INEC should recognise that any Nigerian citizen of voting age who has registered to vote must be accorded the opportunity to vote. By Section 47 of the Electoral Act, this means such a registered voter must receive from the INEC a Permanent Voter Card.”

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