The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osun State, Mutiu Agboke expressed concern over rising attacks against the commission’s officials during election seasons, saying some political stakeholders adopt such method thinking they would hagr their way at polls.
He said the recent shift in focus from monitoring critical issues on elections to targeting INEC officials without valid cause is not healthy for electoral process.
Agboke therefore called on members of the public and political stakeholders to actively scrutinize electoral process to ensure transparency and fairness rather than attacking umpire’s officials.
He made this known at a public lecture of the 2024 Press Week of the Osun State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists on Tuesday.
The REC, who was the guest lecturer at the event, noted that the trust deficit in electoral activities in Nigeria has become a terrible experience for both the electorate and the commission.
He encouraged citizens and political actors to question INEC’s procedures, closely monitor the actions and behaviour of electoral officials, and hold them accountable for any irregularities.
According to him, “In recent time, we discovered that political stakeholders have shifted their attention from the issues they are supposed to monitor, the target is now the officials of the commission and I felt there is no need for all this, unless you see that clearly a particular official has committed an infraction, an infraction that the commission should rise up to.
“The political stakeholders should shift their attention from thinking that they can rubbish officials of the commission, perhaps thinking that by doing that, they will have their way is not the way it should be. When you focus on that, you miss out monitoring the activities, you miss out the monitoring those officials to be able to know whether they are doing the right thing or not.”
Educating political stakeholders further, Agboke said, “Let us ask INEC, how are you doing your work? What is the modality for doing your work? Let them monitor what we are doing. Let them monitor our officials, monitor the resident electoral commissioners. When I say monitor, I’m saying monitor the body language, monitor the conduct, the official conduct.
“All of us should continue to analyse various security threats to our elections, even before the election at all. And our engagement should continue. None of the security agency should back out. We should continue to work together. We should continue to liaise together and INEC will always open the door for them to achieve this.”
He pledged INEC’s commitment to working alongside relevant authorities to maintain the safety and legitimacy of electoral activities in Osun State and beyond.
In his remarks, Femi Adefila, one of the guest speakers, emphasised the necessity for increased public scrutiny and engagement in the process of choosing leaders in Nigeria.
Speaking on the persistent challenges affecting the country’s electoral system, Adefila highlighted vote buying as a critical issue that must be addressed through greater focus and vigilance.
Also in his comment, Kolapo Alimi, Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment in Osun State, advocated for a complete overhaul of the voter registration system, similar to the periodic registration conducted during national censuses.
Alimi noted that the current practice of merely updating the existing register, rather than conducting a thorough cleanup, has resulted in the inclusion of deceased individuals.
By implementing a fresh registration process every five years, he asserted that the true number of eligible voters can be accurately determined at the unit, ward, local government and the state levels.
