Civil society organizations have been urged by the Independent National Electoral Commission to expand their election monitoring activities to include political party primaries.
The necessity to stop vote-buying and other election malpractices was emphasized by INEC.
Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, made the plea Tuesday at the Commission’s Abuja headquarters at the first quarterly consultative meeting with CSOs for 2025.
Yakubu noted that CSOs’ reports have assisted in resolving voting anomalies and recognized the vital role they have played in election advocacy and monitoring.
He urged them to concentrate on party primaries, as there have been several reports of delegate-buying.
He claims that some delegates have publicly discussed the financial incentives they were given during the nomination process, which is a matter that needs further attention and action.
“I would like to encourage civil society organizations to be as interested in party primaries as you are actively involved in the monitoring of INEC’s secondary elections,” the INEC Chairman emphasized.
Ultimately, on election day, voters can only select the candidates that have been nominated by their respective political parties.
“From your monitoring reports as accredited election observers, you have consistently expressed concern over vote-buying at Polling Units during elections. Some of you have made actionable recommendations on how to curtail the menace which have been favourably considered by the Commission.”
“It’s time to broaden your scope by concentrating on the prevalence of candidates purchasing votes during primaries. During party primaries, some delegates publicly boasted about the large sums of money they had earned from candidates. You ought to boost up your support for the sensible actions that the appropriate law enforcement and security organizations are taking to combat this evil activity.”
The conference takes place as INEC gets ready for a number of important elections.
Political parties are anticipated to have their primaries between March 20 and April 10, 2025, with the Anambra State governorship election set for November 8, 2025.
In accordance with legal requirements, the official Notice of Election was published on November 13, 2024, although Yakubu reminded stakeholders that the election timeline and schedule of activities were made public in October of previous year.
INEC is getting ready for the February 21, 2026, Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory in addition to the Anambra poll. Next year marks the end of the terms of the 62 Council members and six Chairmen, and election preparations are already under way.
Yakubu confirmed that the election timetable has been published on INEC’s website, and further details will be discussed in subsequent engagements.