Amid Rising Attacks, INEC To Meet Election Experts In West Africa

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will be conferring with electoral commissions of eight other West African countries to discuss the negative impacts of insurgency and banditry, amongst others, on the conduct of elections in the region.

With Nigeria’s general election holding in 81 days’ time, the management of INEC will join its foreign counterparts and election experts at a conference taking place this week in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to exchange ideas on curbing security threats to elections.

The conference is coming amid rising attacks on offices of the commission in parts of the country.

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of INEC, said the Nigerian electoral umpire will be making two presentations at the conference.

Yakubu disclosed this at a meeting with the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) on Monday in Abuja.

“At different fora, Electoral Commissions in West Africa and beyond have expressed concern about the impact of prevailing insecurity on the conduct of elections, particularly with regard to insurgency, banditry and other forms of armed conflict.

“Consequently, a 9-nation conference of Electoral Commissions and election experts is holding this week in Ouagadougou involving the host, Burkina Faso, as well as Benin Republic, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo from West Africa; and the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo from Central Africa. Nigeria will be making two presentations at the Conference,” he said.

While thanking UNOWAS for its preventive diplomacy, political mediation and facilitation efforts across West Africa and the Sahel, Yukubu assured that INEC “will not fail the nation and the international community” by ensuring that it conducts credible and verifiable elections.

“We will continue to make incremental improvement to our electoral process supported by the deployment of appropriate and relevant technology that will make voter accreditation and result management more credible and transparent,” he added.