Iheanacho Nwosu, Abuja
No fewer than 75 political parties yesterday passed vote of confidence on the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, arguing that the last general election met the expectation of majority of Nigerians.
In a communique after a two-day roundtable on the evaluation, the coalition of the parties however blamed security operatives, particularly the military and the police for whtever shortcoming witnessed during the elections.
Jeff Ojinaka , who read the communique that was also signed by Faith Nwadichi, also urged Presdent Muhammadu Buhari to speedily sign the Electoral Amendment bill into law.
The parties said signing the bill into law will safe the country from the challenges associated with the current electoral law.
“The Roundtable after a comprehensive review of the conduct of the 2019 general election passed a vote of confidence in the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu for the successful conduct of the election and notes with satisfaction the transparency in communication and regular engagement of stakeholders at the national, state and local government levels which ensured that everybody was carried along in the process.
“The roundtable indicts the security agencies for the lapses in the election due largely to their collusion with unscrupulous politicians and negligence to do their jobs,” it quoted.
On some of the challenges encountered during the election, the gathering deplored role played by the military and some other security agents as well as activities of thugs who they said were used by desperate politicians.
“The roundtable condemned the hypocrisy of the leadership of the security agencies that manifested in the partisan deployment of police and security personnel to polling station/voting point and also condemned the unprofessional conducts of security agents”.
The participants however, made far reaching recommendations on how to improve electoral system ahead of subsequent elections.