Jega Speaks On 2019 Elections

Attahiru Jega, immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has commended the new leadership of the electoral body for progress made since taking over in November 2015.

Speaking at National Judicial Institute on Thursday in Abuja, Jega said the 2019 elections will the best in the country so far, considering the level of preparedness of the current INEC.

He said some of the reform measures put in place to ensure success of the 2019 election include the retention and upgrading of the smart card readers to expand their current capabilities.

The former INEC boss spoke on a paper titled, “Towards Elections with Integrity in 2019, Challenges and Prospect”.

He said Nigeria had its worst election in 2007 and has made improvements in 2011 and 2015.

“Since November 2015, when the current INEC was put in place, significant, commendable progress has been made to sustain, depeen, and defend the integrity of the Nigerian electoral process,” he said.

Jega further identified some of the challenges the commission may face in 2019.

According to him, “INEC has identified the following as outstanding challenges, money in politics, attitude and disposition of politicians, delay in the review and amendment of the electoral legal framework, funding, vote buying, election security and hate speech”.

He enjoined the political class to imbibe and uphold core values affirms the culture of democratic principles and practices.