Don’t cast aspersions on credibility of INEC – Kogi REC tells politicians

Prof. James Apam, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kogi, on Thursday said it was counter-productive for politicians and electoral stakeholders to cast aspersions and destroy the credibility of the commission.

Apam said this in Lokoja during a stakeholders’ meeting organised by INEC to interface with political parties, their candidates, security agencies and other interested parties.

He said it was counterproductive when politicians cast aspersions and destroyed the credibility of the same institution whose work they hoped to benefit from.

“A major indices of a country’s political development is the existence of strong institutions as opposed to the existence of strong persons.

“It will do everyone a lot of good when politicians and their parties raise issues in their campaigns and public statements, provide civic education and desist from mobilising the youth for violence,” he said.

He said that the political class should be reminded that it would do no one any good when their actions and utterances stoked fear, resentment and a feeling of pessimism in the people whom they sought to lead.

On the November Governorship Election, Apam said elections were the hallmark of the democratic culture to which all Nigerians subscribed to at the beginning of the fourth Republic in 1999.

The REC said the commission was ready for the election saying, “We have since passed and sent all the non-sensitive materials to the Local Government offices preparatory to moving them to the Registration Area Centres (RACs) on the eve of the election”.

Apam said the Commission had held series of stakeholders’ meetings at the state and local government levels to brief stakeholders on arrangements to conduct the election.

He said the commission had also held series of refresher trainings for its staff, trained security personnel on their conduct during elections in addition to meetings with the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (IACCES) at the state and Local Government levels.

Apam described the conduct of elections by INEC as opportunity to contribute to national development.

The REC therefore promised, on behalf of the commission not to betray the trust and called on the people of the state to accept the challenge of conducting themselves in civil manner during the election.