Presidential election: Festus Okoye refuses to apologize for INEC underperformance

Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has refused to apologize for INEC’s role in the lapses witnessed at the conduct of the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria.

Okoye instead put the blame on the political parties for sabotaging the electoral process, a statement he made on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics. He blamed the political class for perpetuating most of the challenges evident in the just-concluded presidential and national assembly elections.

“Festus Okoye is not the Independent National Electoral Commission,” he said. “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is made up of a chairman and 12 national commissioners, and we also have 36 electoral commissioners and resident electoral commissioners for the federal capital territory.”

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He insisted that the issue of an apology shouldn’t suffice, as the electoral body wouldn’t deliberately sabotage a process that it was committed to.

He said, “And so the issue of an apology or no apology doesn’t really arise. The commission has made it very clear that we are not happy with what happened with the result uploaded during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections.

“And that we, as a responsible organization, have taken steps to rectify some of the challenges we had and also to make sure that going into the March 18 governorship and state house of assembly elections that such issues do not reoccur,” he said, promising that the commission had put in place measures to ensure a more credible March 18, governorship, and national assembly elections.

“Let me make this very clear: the conduct of elections is a multi-stakeholder venture. Yes, the commission is at the receiving end now—the political parties also have their own role to play in making sure we have a good electoral process.”

He accused the political parties and their candidates of hiring thugs. “It is some of the political parties and some of their candidates that make the atmosphere at the level of the polling units becomes inaccessible. They made the atmosphere in such a way that the voters cannot really have a very good voting experience on election day,” the commissioner explained.

“So we also need to talk to the political parties and their agents and help to make sure that they abide by the code of conduct and the peace accord that they signed so that Nigerians can go to the polling unit on election day without a challenge. So that our officials can deploy without fear of harm.

“As an electoral management body, we will keep improving with every election, and when we make mistakes, we have the honour, integrity, and presence of mind to acknowledge that we have made mistakes and that we are going to improve with every election.”