The organization tasked the INEC to resolve logistical issues experienced during the last general elections, prosecute electoral offenders, and put mechanisms in place to guard against voter intimidation.
With the conclusion of the much-touted 2023 general elections, a network of civil society organizations in Nigeria, led by OrderPaper Nigeria, has identified bandwagon voting as one of the issues that affect the quality of lawmakers elected to the National Assembly.
This position was made known in Abuja, on Tuesday, at the official unveiling of the Comprehensive report of the 2023 General elections with a special focus on the National and State Assemblies.
The group posited that ethnic and religious persuasion is still a determining factor in the minds of Nigerians, when electing their leaders, adding that most Nigerians voted in the last Federal and State Parliamentary elections without interrogating the suitability and capabilities of the candidates.
DOWNLOAD: COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA
This position was re-echoed by the Executive Director of OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Oke Epia, who said “There is very little or no attention to individuals who are seeking to be members of the National Assembly, and that had led to a huge gap in the scrutiny of candidates for the legislature. Invariably that has contributed to the capacity and the potential of the next National Assembly to deliver services. Because if the right persons that have not been well scrutinized get into the legislature. We will invariably have situations where we will have capacity gaps around competence and people who are not well prepared”.
The forum further noted the need for adequate voter education to sensitize the electorate on who they are voting for, and to make every information available to them.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Food Basket Foundation International, Funke Akinyele, said “Even though we have like the cyber security act, we can also not infringe on the right to freedom, just like we did in the six higher institutions of learning, that we went to across Nigeria, sharing the informs about fake news, the dangers of fake news and importance of making informed decisions, it is then important to continue to engage government, continue to engage the citizens and to continue to engage the people online.”
In her contributions, the Chief of Party Strengthening Civic Advocacy for Local Engagement (SCALE), Lydia Odeh, said that the country had very good electoral laws, but noted there are still avenues for reforms, adding that that “there are a lot of concerns on how results were transmitted to the server.”
She further noted that even though the deployment of technology was the defining moment of the polls there were identified technical glitches here and there.
Stakeholders at the engagement charged the nation’s election management body, the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC to sort out logistical issues to guard against late arrival of election materials, Prosecute electoral offenders, and institute mechanisms to guard against voter intimidation.
