Political Parties under the umbrella of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) have rejected the planned self-review by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the CUPP, in a statement released on Wednesday, called on INEC to set up an open independent public inquiry into the glitches that the commission claimed undermined the integrity of the election.
The statement, signed by High Chief Peter Ojonugwa Ameh, the National Secretary of CUPP, said that the INEC review would not be credible and would not restore public confidence in the electoral process.
“The commission can not review itself without the elements of bias,” the statement said. “If Yakubu Mahmood is interested in reviewing the 2023 general election, the right thing to do is to set up an independent commission of inquiry.”
CUPP said that the independent inquiry should investigate the nature of the glitches that occurred during the election, as well as the names of those in charge at the time.
“We need to know that this was not a deliberate attempt by members of the commission to undermine the integrity of our election,” the statement said.
The statement reads:
“It is obvious and noticeable how Mahmood is running up and down in an attempt to try to repair the battered image of the commission and by extension his reputation as well,” the statement said.
“There is a total loss of public confidence in the commission, so therefore, if the commission goes ahead to conduct a self-examination through a non-transparent process of reviewing the elections.
“If the commission continues with the purported self-review process, then it will amount to nothing in the eyes of the general public.
“The commission can not review itself without the elements of biased so if Yakubu Mahmood is interested in reviewing the 2023 general election, the right thing to do is to set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate and examine the unverifiable claims of the commission that there was a glitch, their terms of reference should include but not limited to the following; Make known to the public the Nature of the glitch and what caused it. Names of those in charge as at the time it occurred.
“We need to know that this was not a deliberate attempt by members of the commission to undermine the integrity of our election by subverting the right of the people to vote and elect their leaders through a free, fair and credible process.”
