March 18 Election: Concerns Over INEC’s Credibility Heightens As PWDs Sends Strong Message to Yakubu
FCT, Abuja - With less than 24 hours to the much-anticipated gubernatorial polls, TAF Africa has expressed concerns over the credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), noting that the challenges in the presidential elections undermined public confidence in the electoral process.
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Professor Vincent Anigbogu, TAF Africa's board chairman, made this known on Friday, March 17, during a pre-election press briefing attended by Legit.ng at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
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He stated that INEC's shortcomings might reignite the already existing voter apathy amongst electorates and especially persons with disabilities (PWDs) if not adequately addressed.
Prof Anigbogu said the gubernatorial poll is a presentable opportunity for INEC to redeem the trust of Nigerians to trust the electoral process.
He said:
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"The March 18 gubernatorial and state assembly election presents another opportunity to assess the operational practicability of specific provisions of the Electoral Act as it affects the participation of persons with disabilities, and the commitment of key election stakeholders towards ensuring that the right conditions and enablers are present and operational."
Meanwhile, every person with disabilities has been urged not to fret nor be discouraged by the outcome of the last election.
Zainab Usman Suleiman, a board member of TAF Africa, admonished PWDs to come out in their numbers to exercise their civic duties and exhibit patriotism in electing their preferred candidate.
She said:
"TAF Africa understands that the current situation in the country hasn't been exactly encouraging, particularly with the conduct of the presidential and state assembly elections but staying at home for the fear of what will happen at the polling unit will deny you the opportunity to perform your civic right as a citizen by voting you choice of candidate.
"Please remember that one possible vote not cast is a vote for the continued weakening of our electoral process."
TAF deploy observers for guber polls, launch election monitoring app for PWDs
Meanwhile, the situation of TAF Africa for the observation and monitoring of the 2023 gubernatorial polls was declared open by its founder, Ambassador Jake Epelle.
According to him, TAF Africa had deployed well-trained observers across the states of the federation to give feedback on the electoral process at various polling units.
He also disclosed that TAF Africa had launched a user-friendly citizen's election observation app where observers send their reports to the backend for situation room reports.
When asked by Legit.ng how veritable the election observation app is to the gubernatorial polls, he said:
"It's an eyewitness app that has the capacity to replay video, and texts as well as the ability to send several forms, like a survey.
"It's a comprehensive tool kit that actually gives us real time information on disability in general."
He further told Legit.ng that TAF Africa's team of qualified and experienced data analysts in the situation room possess sophisticated tools to checkmate fake photos, videos and information.
As gathered by Legit.ng, the TAF Africa pre-election observation initiative is funded by the European Union through its EU SDGN program.
Source: Legit.ng
