An international election observer, Chukwuma Ezeala, has described the performance of Nigeria’s, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the governorship election held on Saturday in Osun State, as a continuous improvement of their performance in previous elections.
Mr Ezeala said that the INEC succeeded in ensuring that the election was free and fair.
On Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, on Monday, the election observer stressed that the election had left several lessons for Nigeria to learn ahead of the 2015 general elections.
According to him, “if elections continue to turn out this way, electorates will have confidence to come and vote for the candidate of their choice”.
“The first confidence would be in INEC which has demonstrated over time that it is relatively impartial and the issue of insecurity that they have succeeded in controlling”.
He further said that the four components of the electoral system – the electoral body, political party’s, electorate and the security agencies – all had a role to play to achieve success in the 2015 elections.
He explained that the electorates, who were mobilised in the Osun election, still needed to be educated on the election process.
“The political parties don’t seem to be making any progress,” he said, emphasising that they are still at the same stage they were years ago.
He praised the security agents, as they ensured law and order in Osun State, recalling that there were few cases of thuggery or violence.
However, he, stressed the need for offenders to be prosecuted, as it would help in ensuring order during the 2015 presidential election were there would not be enough security operatives in all the states.
He recommended that the electoral commission should begin plans to ensure that the 2015 general election would be a recorded success.
