Janet Samuel
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has urged civil society organizations, CSOs, to extend support to the law enforcement agencies in their monitoring efforts to curb vote-buying and other electoral malpractices during party primaries.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the call during the first quarterly consultative meeting with CSOs for 2025, held at the Commission’s headquarters on Tuesday, in Abuja.
Prof. Yakubu recognized the critical role that CSOs play in election observation and advocacy, noting that their reports have been instrumental in addressing irregularities during elections.
He encouraged them to turn their attention to party primaries, where issues like delegate-buying have been prevalent.
“CSOs should show as much interest in monitoring party primaries as they do in overseeing secondary elections conducted by INEC. After all, the candidates nominated in primaries are the ones that appear on the ballot for the general elections,” Yakubu stated.
INEC chairman noted that delegates have openly discussed the financial incentives they received during nomination processes, a practice requiring greater scrutiny and action, stressing the importance of intensifying advocacy and supporting the efforts of security agencies to combat such practices.
He highlighted that many election observers have raised concerns about vote-buying at polling units and made actionable recommendations to curb it, some of which have been implemented by INEC.
Yakubu reminded stakeholders that the timetable and schedule for the Anambra election were released in October, with the Notice of Election published on November 13, 2024, in accordance with legal requirements.
