The Independent Electoral Commission has reiterated the need for political parties to stick to the elections timetable even as it is still a month to go before campaigns starts. It also highlighted that it is about 181 days to the general elections, starting with presidential and National Assembly polls scheduled to hold on February 25, INEC said tender had begun for the procurement of sensitive materials for the elections, save for those that needed to be procured close to the polls.
The timetable released by the commission also indicated that governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections would be held on March 11, 2023.
According to the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Committee on Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye in a recent media report by Punch, “Our zonal stores have started receiving the non-sensitive materials required for the conduct of the 2023 general elections.
“We have determined the reusable materials and are making up for the shortfalls. Major and minor renovations are going on in our local government offices. Tenders are on for the procurement of sensitive materials. There are sensitive materials that must wait and be produced or procured close to the election period.”
On whether or not the commission had received from the Federal Government all the funds it needed to prosecute the elections, Okoye affirmed that INEC had the funds it needed for the activities within this period, adding, “We are confident that the commission will continue to receive funds for its various activities as and when due.”
As part of preparations for the elections, INEC says it cannot print the ballot papers yet until the clean-up of the voter register is concluded, which will enable it to know the actual number of registered voters. The figure, it affirmed, would inform the quantity of ballot papers to be printed.
Okoye, responding to a question on the printing, said, “The commission cannot print the ballot papers at this point. The commission must be sure of the approximate number of registered voters before printing ballot papers.
“This means the commission must complete the clean-up of the voters’ register and display the register for claims and objections before making a determination on the number of voters that will participate in the election.”
He explained further that the commission would later invite the political parties participating in the elections to inspect their identities as they would appear on the ballot papers.
Okoye stated, “The commission must also design the ballot papers. Coterminous to this, section 42(3) of the Act provides that the commission shall, not later than 20 days to an election, invite in writing, a political party that nominated a candidate in the election to inspect its identity appearing on samples of relevant electoral materials proposed for the election and the political party may state in writing within two days of being so invited by the commission that it approves or disapproves of its identity as it appears on the samples.”
On the collection of permanent voter cards, Okoye said the PVCs that were ready for the 2019 general elections were available for collection across the country.
He added, “Registration officers of the commission moved to the various registration centres with the uncollected cards. The cards for those who registered during the first and second quarters of the CVR are still being collected.
“The commission will only make a determination of the number of uncollected cards at the stoppage of collection of the cards close to the period of election.”
Also, when asked the number of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System the commission would procure to replace those lost during attacks on some INEC offices, Okoye said the procurement was ongoing and the commission would have the number it needed before the polls.
Okoye added, “The commission will procure and deploy at least 200,000 BVAS for the 2023 general elections. The commission introduced an all-in-one device to improve the quality and efficiency of electoral services.
“The multi-functional integrated device introduced by the commission has different acronyms for the different activities it is used for. During the registration of voters, it is called the INEC voter enrolment device. During the accreditation of voters, it is called Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, also known as BVAS. During the result upload, it is called the INEC result viewing device.
“The device will be deployed in the 176,846 polling units in Nigeria and the redundancies will be deployed in the 8,809 registration areas as backup. The commission continues to procure the device and we are confident that we will have the required number way ahead of the elections.”
However, the commission has maintained that vote-buying remains a dent on the electoral process as it impairs the primacy of the voter to exercise rational choices and diminishes the sanctity of the vote.
The INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had expressed the commission’s support for the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal to address electoral offences. He spoke on Tuesday at the public hearing organised by the House of Representatives for the bill to establish the commission.
Okoye, however, stated, “Our considered view is that the conduct and management of elections is a multi-stakeholder venture and all the components of the unit must organise for the delivery of electoral services.
“All the stakeholders must work in unison to stamp out the virus of vote-buying and selling. The commission will continue to improve the electoral environment to actualise the secrecy of the vote. The commission will continue to cooperate and consult with the security agencies in terms of arrest, investigation and prosecution of vote buyers and sellers.
“The commission supports the setting up of an Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal that will have the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders. We must break the cycle of cynical electoral impunity in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, in addition to the provisions of Section 92 of the Electoral Act that speaks to the prohibition of certain conduct at political campaigns, there is an increasing call on political parties and candidates to base their campaigns on issues and not personal attacks for the benefit of all.