The Nigerian politicians’ perception of elections as war has alarmed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman of the INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, said that while the commission receives favourable media coverage, there is still room to improve its communications infrastructure. Okoye was speaking on August 29 at the CDD’s inauguration of the Election Crisis Communication Team (ECCT).
Okoye stated:
“As a result of the way elections are pursued by politicians, elections are almost akin to war. It is almost like a perennial crisis.
“However, the commission has also been doing a lot that is under-reported, shrouded in sensationalism or even misinterpreted by the general public. As we experience increasing incidents of misrepresentation of the commission, either out of insufficient appreciation of the constitutive legal instruments underlying the work of the commission; inadequate understanding of the work of the commission or other sundry issues around political positioning and contest for power.”
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A presidential constituency, 28 governorship races, 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies, and 993 state assembly seats are among the 1,491 constituencies that Nigerians will elect candidates for in the 2023 elections.
Okoye included;
“In preparations, INEC would be involved in recruiting and training staff and managing the logistics for their deployment to 176,846 polling units, spread across 8,809 electoral wards, 774 local government areas, 37 states of the federation and the FCT.
“This is in addition to applying strategic approaches to ensure the printing and collection of PVCs by registered voters and replacing lost cards before the 2023 general election.
“These tasks are better appreciated when one reasons that the projected voter population for the 2023 general election is about 95 million, which is over 20 million more than the combined voter population of the other 14 countries in West Africa.
“The commission is expected to perform these duties exceptionally despite the myriad geographical challenges that characterize the country, especially poor transportation systems.”