The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is not supporting any candidate or any political party in the forthcoming general elections, maintaining that its only interest is in the electoral process.
The Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said this when he addressed Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) for the 2023 general election in Abuja.
According to a video the Commission posted on its Twitter handle, Yakubu demanded neutrality from electoral officers.
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“INEC is not a political party. INEC has no candidate in the election. Our commitment is to the process and we will make sure that the process is what we say it should be so that the choice made by Nigerians will determine the outcome of the process,” he said.
While calling on the SPOs to uphold the integrity of the process, the INEC chairman said they are critical to the success of the 2023 general elections.
“You are the people who supervise those who will work at the most important level, the polling unit level. That is the only place where voting takes place.
“The collation officers at the polling units level are collating results from the PUs. When collation officers at the PU go to the local government level, they are collating results from the PUs.
“When it goes to the state level they are collating results from the PUs and when they come to Abuja, where we collate the presidential result it would have passed through all these processes.
“So, by the time the results come to Abuja, Nigerians would have known the outcome of the election. Our responsibility is simply to collate,” he said.
He stated that the training which he said was going on simultaneously in all states and the Federal Capital Territory was a further reassurance to Nigerians of the Commission’s readiness to conduct elections on February 25 and March 11.
