U.S. Appeals To INEC To Address Challenges Raised By Nigerians Before Governorship Election In March
Ahead of the March 11, 2023, governorship and state Assembly elections, the United States has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to look into the problems of the technical hitches that associated with the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS)
The United States has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to look into the problems of the technical hitches that associated with the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), before the March 11, 2023, governorship and state Assembly elections to avoid the repeat of issues of Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The spokesperson of the State Department, Ned Price, in a statement on Wednesday, said Nigerians have their rights to have such complains, and should have high expectations for their electoral processes in the just-concluded Presidential poll.
“We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 elections.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted.
“They have also expressed frustration about the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle,” Price stated.
According to Price, the aggrieved presidential candidates should use all legal means to correct the anomaly.
“There are well-established mechanisms in place for the adjudication of electoral disputes, and we encourage any candidate or party seeking to challenge the outcome to pursue redress through those mechanisms.
"We call on all parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time,” the State Department spokesperson said.
He commended the active participation of civil society and the media for advancing electoral norms and political discourse on issues of importance to citizens.
He said the U.S. noted with concern reports that numerous members of the media were attacked during the course of the election.
“We urge the government, security forces, political actors, and all citizens to respect the media’s critical role by refraining from any damaging acts against them and ensuring accountability for such acts when they do occur.
“We also congratulate the Nigerian people, especially the large number of youths who are relatively new to the political process, for demonstrating their strong commitment to democracy,” Price stated.
He noted that the United States congratulated Nigerians, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and all political leaders following the declaration by INEC on the results of the February 25 presidential election.
According to Price, competitive election represented a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.
“Each of the top three candidates was the leading vote-getter in 12 states, a remarkable first in Nigeria’s modern political era, reflecting the diversity of views that characterized the campaign and the wishes of Nigeria’s voters,” the State Department spokesperson said.
Recall that the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had on Wednesday, announced Tinubu, former Lagos State governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election with the majority of votes cast across Nigeria.
The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat fellow contenders – Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes, Labour Party’s Peter Obi had 6,101,533 votes to come third, and candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, who polled 1,496,687 votes to place a distant fourth
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