Izuchukwu OkosiThe Independent National Election Commission (INEC) will seek to placate Nigerians with a near perfect organization of the off cycle elections in the aftermath of the February 23 presidential election that was marred by irregularities.
This was the thoughts of Yabagi Sanni, National Chairman, Action Democratic Party (ADP) and National Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on Wednesday who insists that INEC have no reason to apologise for the conduct of the 2023 elections condemned in most quarters as lacking merit.
Ahead of the November 11, 2023 governorship polls in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states, Sanni was guest of Channels Television and spoke on issues bothering on the conduct of the February/March elections and why Nigerians would need to trust the election arbitar after the controversies that surrounded the general elections.
“The impression we have is actually that the agency is very much aware of the circumstances that they found themselves which is not what they want because it’s not making them look good,” Sanni began.
“So they know that they have the commitment to deliver on the mandate given to them. Doing that perhaps they couldn’t do in the last election like the transmission of results especially for the Presidential election which did not go according to what they hoped would happen.
“We took our stock and said okay this is where we went wrong but you have the political parties as well because it takes two to tango.
“Of course INEC admitted that they were wrong in certain areas and as human beings you’re bound to fail. There’s no situation which is human-made.
Sanni continued in his defense of INEC by insisting that correcting the wrongs done by the Commission during the off season elections should be the focus and not the ‘magic act’ of apologizing to million of disappointed Nigerians who are convinced that the true reflection of the election results did not suffice.
“What is important is to accept the their faults because we’re talking to each other. As an agency of government, there’s a limit to his much you can talk because you’re not on your own. That’s why people are asking for the true independence of INEC.
“People talk of the Commission apologizing to Nigerians. What if they apologise now, won’t Nigerians say that’s the way they usually talk. The real apology will be during the off season elections and ensuring that we have a good polls.
On whether INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu should resign from his position after supposedly letting Nigerians down, Sanni said:
“There are circumstances that resignation will not be the solution. They will not be doing the system a favour by resigning because if you have the institutional memory and has acquired all the experience virtue of you being in the system
“So just because something went wrong, no matter how big that thing may be, and you know that you have the opportunity to correct those things that went wrong and you resign?
“Because you now know – as humans we can’t know it all especially after you prepared. It’s a situation that INEC is also a victim of. All of us are victims.
“The INEC Chairman has done all he could by providing the human resources but he cannot monitor what those people are doing out there. So why would he resign,” Sanni retorted.
Danni had called for a hitch-free elections when the list of candidates were released by INEC in June 2023.
“This is not only a moral imperative but a necessary step towards preserving the integrity of our democratic system.
“There is no doubt that INEC is showing its best efforts in its preparations in spite of obvious encumbrances.
“However, a lot more needs to be done to ensure that elections in Nigeria are hitch-free, credible and substantially comply with the provisions of the controversial 2022 electoral act,” Sani stated in an interactive session with the media in June on the off cylce elections in the three states.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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