By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on passing amendments to the electoral legal framework.

Yakubu made the call on Thursday in Abuja when he received the European Union (EU) Election Observation Follow-up Mission to Nigeria, led by Mr Barry Andrews, who led the EU Mission to the 2023 General Election.

Yakubu said that an early passage of the law was critical to the commission’s planning for the next general election.

“Uncertainty over the legal framework for the election can unsettle the work of the commission as election draws nearer,” he said.

Yakubu said that the commission had carefully considered all the eight recommendations specifically addressed to the commission by the EU Election Observation (EU EOM) report on 2023 general election.

He recalled that in 2019, the EU EOM made 30 recommendations out of which 11 were specifically addressed to INEC, noting that three of them were identified as priority recommendations while 8 were categorised as general.

He added that by comparison, EU EOM 2023 report made 23 recommendations out of which eight (34.8 per cent) require action by INEC of which only one recommendation was listed as priority.

He said that the remaining 15 (65.2 per cent) recommendations, out of which five were categorised as priority, require action by other entities in the executive, legislature, judiciary, political parties and multiple stakeholders.

“The commission has carefully considered all the eight recommendations specifically addressed to us in your report.

“Action has been taken on aspects of the recommendations that only require administrative action to implement.

“Similarly, action is being taken on cross-cutting recommendations that require collective action between INEC and other bodies and stakeholders while waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing legal review by the National Assembly on the recommendations that require legislative intervention,” he said.

Yakubu noted that EU recommendations, along similar reports from other national and international election observers, were the subject of wide-ranging consultations with critical institutions and stakeholders during INEC review of the 2023 General Election.

He said the review report contains 142 recommendations for electoral reform, adding that INEC had published our main 2023 General Election report over a year ago.

“As you are aware, election is a process governed by law. Many of your recommendations require the review of our electoral laws.

“For this reason, the commission had interfaced with our National Assembly, including a retreat with the Joint Committee on Electoral Matters,” he said.

Yakubu assured the EU EOM that INEC would continue to engage with the mission and other observers saying their recommendations had helped to improve the quality of our elections and electoral activities.

In his remarks, Andrews, said they were at INEC to know how far the commission had gone in implementing the commission’s recommendations on the 2023 general election.

Andrews said that the mission wanted to know the progress made so far, what concerns and obstacles if any in the future, particularly around constitutional change.

“So what we are here to do is to look at the recommendations that flowed from the overall mission, that were contained in the final report of the mission back in 2023.

“We are very happy to see that there has been significant progress against these recommendations.

“We recognise that there are certain time constraints, both in terms of judicial reform as well as administrative reform.

“Of course, constitutional reform, which is somewhat more difficult, but we are making all of these recommendations against international standards that the EU, that Nigeria, that most countries, have signed up to.

“So we are part of an overall international election observation ecosystem that has really served to buttress democracy, to support democracy, not just here in Nigeria, not just in Africa, but across the world and in Europe as well,” he said.

Noting some off cycle governorship elections had been conducted after 2023 general election, Andrews said that the mission wants to know the measures taken to improve transparency on publication of results, which was part of the mission’s recommendations. (NAN)