Taiwo Amodu – Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has cautioned both local and international observers who would be monitoring the conduct of the general elections in the country to detach themselves from the process.
Yakubu gave the advice on Tuesday at the briefing of accredited election observers held at the Commission headquarters in Abuja.
About 229 groups, both local and international observers will be deploying 146,913 observers for the 2023 general election.
Yakubu who described the number as the largest deployment of domestic and international observers in the history of elections in Nigeria maintained that in keeping with the rules of engagement in line with international good practice, the observers must avoid partisanship.
He said:” I wish to remind observers that there is a code of conduct for election observation. You are by definition observers. Do not interfere with the process or show partisanship. In addition, international observers must be guided by the fact that the election is conducted by the Federal Republic of Nigeria whose sovereignty must be respected.”
Yakubu said he was convinced that like in previous elections, the reports and recommendations of the observers in the forthcoming general elections would be useful to the Commission.
“In line with global good practice, electoral commissions in most jurisdictions invite national and international organisations to deploy observers or organise study tours for election managers during elections.
“As a consequence, observers submit reports to electoral commissions highlighting strengths and weaknesses of processes. Arising from study tours, election managers also learn from other jurisdictions. The reports and recommendations of observers and the knowledge from the study tours help electoral commissions to progressively improve processes.
“The progressive improvement in our electoral democracy since 1999 draws in part from the reports of observers and the study tours. That is why over the years, the Commission has sent open or specific invitations to national and international observers. The implication is that all accredited observers are guests of INEC.”
