Group seeks punishment for parties that violate Electoral Act, INEC guidelines

Yiaga Africa has called for punishment of political parties that violate the Electoral Act or the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, guidelines for party primaries to serve as a deterrent for others.

In a statement by its Executive Director, Samson Itodo, Yiaga Africa urged INEC not to hesitate to use the big harmer against erring political parties in order to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy.

“As we Collectively strive to build democratic institutions that would promote balanced and accelerated development, Yiaga Africa urges INEC to enforce its regulatory powers against political parties that contravene provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC guidelines before, during and after the primaries,” the statement read.

It harped on the need for credible and transparent primaries to restore public confidence in the country’s electoral process.

Yiaga Africa strongly condemned ‘monetized primaries’ which it said negate the ideals of democracy, while calling on the security agencies to rise against “dollar rain” (monetary inducement of delegates) during party primaries.

Below is a full text of the statement made available to Ikengaonline:

“Yiaga Africa Calls for Transparent, Rules-Based Presidential Convention by political parties.

“As the country eagerly awaits the emergence of the Presidential flag bearers of most political parties, we wish to reiterate the strategic importance of fair and credible primaries in engendering positive democratic externalities within the context of the forthcoming civilian-to-civilian transition process in Nigeria.

“With less than a week to the June 9th deadline for the conduct of party primaries, Yiaga Africa reaffirms her earlier demand that candidates must, among other things, emerge from credible, rules-based primaries in line with democratic standards. Manipulated and stage-managed primaries remain antithetical to democratic ideals and must be prevented to the barest minimum. We thus call on political parties yet to nominate Presidential candidates to ensure they deliver Presidential Conventions that are not free and fair in the theoretical or abstract sense but in terms of intrinsic transparency and accountability in its accreditation, voting, and collation process.

“Lastly and most importantly, Yiaga Africa calls on political parties to collaborate with relevant law enforcement agencies to curtail the rather asinine monetization of the nomination process. The so-called ‘dollar rain’ needs to be brought to a definitive end, and delegates sensitized on the necessity of voting their conscience over primordial and pecuniary considerations. All political parties must consequently safeguard the sanctity of the secret ballot system by institutionalizing binding transparency, anti-inducement and trust engendering measures that reinforce the confidence of all stakeholders in the primary election process.

“Such confidence on the electoral process will further be bolstered through more robust mechanisms such as banning of handheld devices in the voting booths, accreditation of delegates, through the use of national identity cards, passports, driver’s licence or voter’s card as credible means of identification for the purposes of accreditation.

“As we Collectively strive to build democratic institutions that would promote balanced and accelerated development, Yiaga Africa urges INEC to enforce its regulatory powers against political parties that contravene provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC guidelines before, during and after the primaries.”