- The elections have stirred diverse reactions due to their outcomes, ongoing legal disputes, and certain decisions made by election petitions tribunals, followed by the Court of Appeal
Prof. Attahiru Jega, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, characterized the 2023 general elections as “credible in many significant aspects.”
During a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Tonight on Monday, Jega emphasized that his positive evaluation of the polls wasn’t specifically in support of the incumbent INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood.
The elections have stirred diverse reactions due to their outcomes, ongoing legal disputes, and certain decisions made by election petitions tribunals, followed by the Court of Appeal.
“I would say that, in many substantial aspects, it was credible,” he said.
“In areas where we have seen serious challenges that are avoidable and should have been avoided, I believe that to a large extent — and you asked me to be very frank with you — we have a tendency to heap blame on the leadership of an electoral management body and I have had my own fair share of those kinds of blames,” he added.
The Professor of Political Dcience also argued that blame should be apportioned appropriately in the conduct of the election, adding that politicians played direct roles in areas where there were “very serious challenges.”
According to him, such influence “more or less circumscribed the powers” of INEC and its chairman.