The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu; and National Commissioners of the electoral umpire, on Tuesday, met with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and other political parties at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
The meeting’s aims include the review of the 2023 general elections, as well as preparations for the November 11, 2023 off-season governorship elections in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states.
Mahmood, who apologised for starting the meeting late, said engaging with stakeholders is the best way to ensure the credibility of future elections.
The first public meeting by the electoral umpire with leaders of political parties, was attended by the acting Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as well as chieftains of other political parties led by the National Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council, Yabagi Sani.
Earlier, on Friday, July 21, 2023, the INEC chair met with the National Commissioners of the organisation to review the 2023 general elections.
Presidential election was conducted on February 25, 2023 and INEC declared the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the poll but two main challengers — Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP are presently in court to challenge the declaration by INEC, alleging various electoral malpractices, voters’ suppression, violence, the supposed inefficiency of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) as well as insisting that the poll was not free and fair.
