At Meeting with Party Leaders, Acting INEC Chair Pledges to Address LP Matter

•IPAC: expectations of Nigerians high in new leadership of electoral body

Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Acting Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, yesterday, met with the leadership of political parties in the country at a quarterly consultative meeting in Abuja.

Agbamuche-Mbu used the occasion to assure Labour Party (LP) that the commission would look into the demand for the upload of the party’s candidates for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections.

She gave the assurances to the national chairman of LP, Barrister Julius Abure.

Abure and the national secretary, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, were in attendance as the authentic and recognised leadership of LP.

Abure congratulated the acting chairman of INEC on her recent appointment.

A statement by the national publicity secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said, “In paying tribute to the acting chairman, the Labour Party chairman while appreciating her, stated that once lawyers are on the saddle of leadership. It reduces, and sometimes brings to an end impunity and injustice to the system.”

Ifoh said once lawyers were in the saddle institutions would be built and even democracy would continue to grow.

“This is exactly what has played out in the affairs of the party leadership,” the statement said.

The party appreciated the formal recognition of the leadership of Abure and commended INEC for obeying the court order.

Abure pleaded with the leadership of INEC to release the code for the upload of candidates for the FCT Area Council election.

“The party followed due process, issued notices to INEC, conducted primaries and the list is with the INEC. We, therefore, urge INEC to release the code to us so that we can upload our candidates and join in the ongoing campaign for the Area Council election,” he said.

The chairman believed that under her leadership, INEC would do better, perform better, creditably, effectively, constitutionally and in accordance with the rule of law, which no doubt would strengthen democracy and prepare the ground for better outcome in the 2027 general election.

The meeting was attended by all the national chairmen and national secretaries of the political parties, as well as the INEC commissioners.

Relatedly, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) said Nigerians had high expectations that the new INEC would be well led by Professor Joash Amupitan.

President Bola Tinubu recently nominated Amupitan as the new INEC chairman after the expiration of the tenure of Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

IPAC National Chairman, Dr. Yusuf Dantalle, called on the commission to justify the confidence the country reposed in it. Dantalle said this was the only way to rebuild trust in the electoral process and encourage mass participation in future polls.

Dantalle spoke yesterday in Abuja during INEC’s quarterly consultative meeting with political parties.

He said there was a need to continue to sanitise the country’s democratic system to meet the yearnings of citizens, who desired and deserved dividends of constitutional governance, not rhetoric.

Dantalle stressed that after 26 years of unbroken democracy, the ongoing constitution and Electoral Act amendments provided yet another opportunity to advance democracy.

He explained that IPAC had been engaging the National Assembly and critical stakeholders on the review of the legal frameworks for sustainable democracy and development.

He stated that IPAC further submitted its proposals to the House of Representatives Committee on Constitutional Review on Monday, October 6, and Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters on Monday, October 13, at its public hearing at the National Assembly, proposing the scrapping of the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and vesting the responsibility of conducting all local governments elections in INEC.