The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has denied receiving any direct funding or cash support from international development partners for the 2023 general election.
Mr Yakubu made the clarification at a meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Abuja on Monday as part of the commission’s post-election review.
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He said the commission’s policy is not to receive direct funding or cash transfers from sources other than the federal government.
“It is necessary to seize this opportunity to correct the impression in some sections of the public that the Commission received huge sums of money from development partners for the election,” he said.
“On the contrary, and for the avoidance of doubt, the Commission did not receive any direct funding or cash support from international development partners. Rather, their support was totally indirect through civil society organisations and implementing partners working on elections.
“Indeed, it has been a longstanding policy of the present Commission not to receive direct funding and cash transfers from sources other than the federal government of Nigeria.”
However, Mr Yakubu said that the commission did receive support from international partners in the form of technical advice, civic and voter education, organisation of meetings and capacity-building workshops, as well as the publication of documents.
He said that this support was “totally indirect” and came through civil society organisations and implementing partners working on elections.
Mr Yakubu also said that the commission received 538 requests for accreditation as observers in the build-up to the 2023 elections.
Of these, 228 groups were accredited, but only 67 have submitted their reports to the commission.
Mr Yakubu urged the remaining accredited observer groups to submit their reports as soon as possible.
The post-election review, which began three weeks ago, focuses on all aspects of the electoral activities before, during and after the polls through “introspection, stocktaking, review and evaluation,” according to the INEC chairman.
“This is one of the best ways to continue to improve the electoral process. As I said on several occasions, since we commenced the review meetings three weeks ago, the Commission welcomes diverse opinions about the election insofar as their purpose is to improve the future conduct of elections and to consolidate our democracy,” he said.
The commission is expected to meet with political parties on Tuesday, Media editors on Wednesday and the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) on Friday.