— Worry Over Weak Judicial Accountability For Electoral Offenders, Conflicting Judicial Pronouncement on Electoral Process
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has been tasked to institutionalize regular stakeholders engagement and also prioritize continuous voter education in Nigeria’s electoral process.
These were parts of the Communique issued at the end of a 2-day Community Dialogues on Electoral Integrity- trusted Voices for Credible election workshop held recently in Kaduna, North West Nigeria.
Other tasks include holding electoral offenders accountable, traditional and religious leaders to remain politically neutral, while security agencies should continue reforms aimed at improving professionalism and public confidence.
Community-based early warning systems, the Communique says, should be established,
Women, youth, and persons with disabilities be actively included in electoral processes, while
Civil Society Organizations in collaboration with INEC should strengthen civic education and election observation.
It further stresses the need for Media organizations to promote responsible and factual reporting as well as equal access to all political parties. Multi-stakeholder peace committees be established across communities to prevent electoral violence before, during, and after elections.
Security agencies, the participants recommend, should protect voters, prevent intimidation, arrest electoral offenders and provide a safe environment for elections.
Participants, the Communique emphasized, had earlier highlighted numerous challenges bedevilling Nigeria’s electoral system which include:- insufficient voter education and sensitization. the increase in drug use and political thuggery, weak implementation of existing electoral laws, limited stakeholder engagement by INEC, unequal access to voter registration opportunities and security challenges, particularly in conflict-prone communities like Zamfara and Benue States
voter apathy resulting from violence and intimidation.
Others are, weak judicial accountability for electoral offences, conflicting judicial pronouncements on electoral process, Public distrust of the police, Ownership and political influence over media organizations, weak community policing structures, rising cases of drug abuse among women in the north,
psychological challenges affecting security personnel, and weak internal democracy among political parties
The workshop brought together 40 key stakeholders from 12 States across North West and North Central to strengthen collaboration and promote community ownership of electoral integrity, encourage peaceful participation in elections and develop practical recommendations for credible elections among others.
The Workshop was under the EU Support to ECOWAS in Peace, Security and Governance (EPSG) Project, funded by the European Union (EU), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Denmark, the Fundación para la Internacionalización de las Administraciones Públicas (FIAP), a Spanish Cooperation entity,
