‘Hold public officers accountable for campaign promises’

By Binta Shama

Abuja

The Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID) has challenged Nigerians to list out the promises made by politicians and hold them accountable at the assumption of office should there be any default.
The Executive Director of PLAC, Clement Nwankwo, stated this at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room National Stakeholders’ Forum on Election Matters, yesterday in Abuja.
“The election process is the hand of the INEC, every other person is supposed to facilitate other network including the security services, political parties and civil society and once election commission is built with integrity, then this country will see improvement in electoral process,” he stated.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice who was represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Justice Reforms, Juliet Ibekaku Nwangwu, said based on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), experience with previous election, it has introduced far reaching institutional reforms and innovations that includes the introduction of a comprehensive electronic voter register.
He also said that the incumbent president has approved the setting up of the Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee to facilitate a more robust and generally acceptable electoral system.
THE Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who was represented by the National Commissioner, Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, stated that the commission has received about 80 more applications from various associations wanting to get registered as political parties ahead of 2019 general elections.
It will be recalled that the commission recently registered 21 more political parties, making it a total of 67 parties currently.
The INEC chairman noted that the commission would continue to register parties as long as they comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

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