The Obidient Movement says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is to blame for the lack of confidence by Nigerians in the electoral system.
Speaking in an interview, Yunusa Tanko, national coordinator of the Obidient Movement says INEC raised the hopes of Nigerians in the build-up to the 2023 general elections by promising free, fair and transparent elections but the same INEC crashed the hopes of the people by conducting elections that were marred with fraud and irregularities.
“The people are disillusioned. They have lost a lot of confidence in the electoral process, I tell you” he said .
“In the build up to the 2023 elections, the people’s spirit was so high because INEC gave them hope of a free and fair election – possibly because of the previous election that took place in 2019 in Edo States, which seemed to be a little bit clearer; people saw the results real time. So that gave everybody hope. Then INEC went on advocacy campaigns assuring that the people’s votes were going to count”.
“But, people have seen it that it was the same INEC which gave them hope that crashed their hope. So we need to find a way of cleaning the electoral process in such a way that people will once again believe in the electoral process. Otherwise in the coming elections, we will have what might be totally unacceptable”.
“If what we are seeing now persists, people might not be interested in coming out for any form of elections because they will believe that once again, the results will be manipulated”.
