2nd August, 2023
By Adekunle Williams
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday said contrary to what some people might think, it had nothing to hide regarding the conduct of the 2023 General Elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this at the Post Election Review of the 2023 General Elections with Media Stakeholders in Lagos.
Yakubu said that there were many positive things that came out of the 2023 elections despite the many challenges.
The chairman admitted that despite the challenges during the last elections, there would be continuous improvement by the commission in the conduct of elections nationwide.
“This is an opportunity for the media executives in their various organisations to tell us what they have seen and how we can continue to improve the electoral process in the future.
“The commission has nothing to hide and it is this type of interaction that we continuously improve on the process for future elections.
“Clearly, there are many positives coming from the general elections and at the same time, we admit that there are many challenges in the last election.
“There are several elections litigations at the various elections tribunals nationwide while we should be careful not to touch on issues that are clearly subjudice,” Yakubu said.
He said that INEC invited media executives that operated at the state, local government and community levels during the election.
He said the commission, in addition to what it did in Abuja the previous week, would also listen to the executives on what came out of reporters about the elections at local and community levels.
According to him, it is through these interactions and discussions with the media that the commission can widen the scope of consultations on the elections.
Yakubu stated that as part of the review it was undertaking, the commission would like to know what constraints the media experienced right from the process of accreditation, access to locations of polling units and collation centres during the elections.
He said it would also want to get appraisals on the security arrangements and advice for improvement going forward.