The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is still awaiting a request from the Senate for the conduct of a by-election in Anambra South Senatorial District to replace Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah.
Dr Elizabeth Agu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Anambra, said this at a stakeholders’ dialogue organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) in Awka on Thursday.
The theme of the dialogue was “Rebuilding Trust in the Electoral Process and Election”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sen. Ifeanyi Ubah, who was representing Anambra South Senatorial District died in July 2024.
Agu said that INEC had made preparations for the election and was ready to conduct it anytime it received a request from the Senate to fill the vacant seat.
She called on the Anambra public, especially politicians, to play by the rules as the state prepared for the Nov. 8 governorship election while assuring that the electoral body would ensure that people’s votes counted.
“INEC is ready for the Anambra South Senatorial District by-election but the Senate has to write us to request for the replacement of the vacant seat before we can conduct the election,” she said.
In his keynote lecture, Dr Nkwachukwu Orji, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), said that public trust was crucial to participatory and successful elections.
Nkwachukwu, a former REC in the state, said that voter apathy was an indication that there were things that were wrong in the electoral process including high trust deficit.
The don said though INEC had the constitutional right to supervise the electoral process, it had allowed other members of the society to be part of the process to boost public trust.
He said that trust issues in elections could be a result of competence or integrity.
According to him, trust is a process that goes up or down and is affected by fraud and irregularities, unprofessional conduct of officials, poor legal framework, partisan bias and others.
“This is why INEC has transferred the announcement of the result to Vice Chancellors,” he said.
The Chairman of the programme, Dr Emeka Ononamadu, said the election process required an interplay of multiple collaborating stakeholders, who must work effectively for a credible outcome.
Ononamadu, a former REC in Enugu State and Convener of Nigeria Democracy Clinic said the stakeholders were the civil society, security agencies and the general public, all of whom should play roles well.
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