17th December, 2014
Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Tuesday urged the political class and the media to abide by ethics and regulations ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Jega, who made the call in Abuja at the 45th meeting of the National Council on Information, said that the commission was prepared for the elections.
Represented by Dr Chris Iyimoga, Commissioner in-charge of Information and Voter Education at INEC, Jega said that the commission was deeply concerned about growing conflicts within and between parties and contestants. “Political parties indeed find it difficult to select candidates, creating a situation whereby practically every nomination process ends in a court case.
“Most of the times, INEC gets directly or vicariously joined to this conflict and court cases. Some pre-election court cases in the past threatened to derail the preparations of the elections.
“Yet, one would expect that parties should have clear rules and procedures for selecting candidates and resolving issues arising from the process to the satisfaction of all their members.
“It seems to me that a primary source of the problem is lack of internal party democracy resulting from lack of commitment to party rules,” he said.
He urged the media to provide the electorate with access to the information needed to enable them to make the right choice in the elections.
The INEC chairman acknowledged that the media had been instrumental to the modest successes so far recorded in the country’s political system. He said that voter education by the media was essential for a healthy democracy and for equipping the citizens to make informed choices of the people they would like to represent them.
According to him, ensuring adequate voter education would also equip citizens to hold their representatives accountable for their electoral promises and oath of office.
He disclosed that the commission had developed a strategic plan from 2012 to 2016, adding that it had done a detailed election plan which it hoped to effectively implement.
“The commission has also done a comprehensive reorganisation in terms of restructuring to ensure that proper pegs are placed in the proper holes. We have consolidated on the data we collected from the 2011 registration exercise and we can confidently say that voters in 34 states in the federation and the FCT have collected their permanent voter cards.
“The continuous voter registration has also taken place in these states and the FCT,” he said.