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Fresh from the successful conduct of two end-of-tenure off-season governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has again assured Nigerians that the 2023 general election will be taken a notch higher.
Prof. Yakubu made the pledge when he received a delegation from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), led the State of Ohio Secretary of State (United States of America), Frank LaRose, at the Commission’s Headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday, 19th July, 2023.
While acknowledging the kind words and commendations over the Osun governorship election conducted on Saturday 16th July 2022, the INEC Chairman noted that there was still more work to be done. He said the Commission “will not rest on its oars” in its determination to deliver its promise of conducting a free, fair, credible and inclusive general election next year.
His words: “there is still a lot of work to do and we assure you that we will continue to work not only hard but even harder to deliver the 2023 general election”.
He added: “We promised Nigerians that Ekiti was going to be good and Ekiti was a good election. We promised that Osun was going to be better and Osun was (indeed) a better election. We are promising that the 2023 general election will be our best election ever and we are committed to delivering best election ever.”
Earlier in his remarks, Mr. LaRose, commended the Commission for the steady and visible improvements in the country’s electoral process.
He explained that as observers in the just concluded Osun governorship election, they witnessed first-hand, the effort that INEC put into continually delivering safe elections to the people of Nigeria, while he also agreed with the INEC Chairman that there was room for improvement.
LaRose said: “First, I want to commend you all for the ongoing work that you do to continue to improve. Of course, we always know that there is room to get better. But we need to first recognise the continuous improvement that INEC has made to deliver safe elections to the people of Nigeria, and that is something that we were able to see first-hand.
“We took the opportunity to visit Osun because that was only the second time election has been conducted under the new Electoral Law. We met with the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun state, and we observed dozens, many different polling locations on election day”.Explaining the purpose of the visit to the Commission, LaRose said, “I lead a delegation of high level election experts from around the region, as well as from the United States, who share with you the common belief that the people of Nigeria deserve to continue to have free, fair, and accessible elections. We are working to prepare for the presidential election in 2023”.
