- Warns of possible voters’ apathy in subsequent elections
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Chief Tony Ojukwu, SAN, has during briefing on the review of the NHRC 2023 elections and the human rights situation on Tuesday in Abuja warned that non compliance with the rules guiding the conduct of the 2023 general election as contained in the amended Electoral Act would result in voter apathy, violence among other consequences in the coming governorship and states assembly elections. According to Ojukwu, if something was not immediately done to address the problem caused so far with the electoral process, there may be outbreak of violence in the country.
He lamented that going by the shoddy performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Presidential/National Assembly elections, there may be voter apathy during the March 11 Governorship/House of Assembly election.
Ojukwu said people might gradually lose faith in the system because of non-compliance with relevant laws and rules guiding the conduct of the election.
He said it was not acceptable to transmit results manually when the law said it had to be transmitted electronically, adding that manual and electronic upload should go simultaneously.
He, however, urged Nigeria to have patience with the process as a new portal was now open where results were being uploaded.
According to Ojukwu, it was gladdening that following the outcry of the people, INEC had now found an alternative to the manual upload of results in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Meanwhile, he advised Nigerians to cry out if they found any discrepancy between the original sheet and the uploaded one, adding that the law clearly expected results to be transmitted, therefore, INEC needed to comply with the law to restore the confidence of the people to reduce apathy.
In his remark, the Executive Director of, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Coordinator of, Transition Monitoring Group, Auwal Rafsanjani, condemned INEC for its silence for days while the people complained about manual upload of results rather than electronically.
In his comment, the Coordinator of Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDEP), Chinonye Obiagu, SAN, noted that he supported the integration of humanrights to the electoral exercise and called on INEC to comply with the law by uploading the results of the elections on their server. He further stated that the credibility of the electoral process largely depends on prompt upload of the results on INEC portal to impact credibility and legality to the exercise.