• Recommends constitutional, judicial reforms before polls

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has called for judicial and constitutional reforms ahead of the 2027 polls.

Barry Andrews, who led the EU EOM delegation, spoke during a visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Abuja yesterday to ascertain how far the commission had gone in implementing recommendations on the 2023 general election.

He said the mission wanted to know the progress made so far, as well as the concerns and obstacles, if any, in the future, particularly around constitutional change.

“So, what we are here to do is to look at the recommendations that flowed from the overall mission; recommendations that were contained in the final report of the mission back in 2023.

“We are very happy to see that there has been significant progress against these recommendations.

“We recognise that there are certain time constraints, both in terms of judicial reforms and administrative reforms.

“Of course, constitutional reform, which is somewhat more difficult, but we are making all of these recommendations against international standards that the EU, Nigeria and most countries have signed up to.

“So, we are part of an overall international election observation ecosystem that has really served to buttress democracy, not just here in Nigeria and in Africa, but across the world and in Europe as well,” he said.

Noting that some off-cycle governorship elections had been conducted after the 2023 general election, Andrews said the mission wanted to know the measures taken to improve transparency on publication of results, which was part of the mission’s recommendations.

In his response, Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman, appealed to the National Assembly to expedite action on passing amendments to the electoral legal framework.

He said an early passage of the law was critical to the commission’s planning for the next general election. “Uncertainty over the legal framework for the election can unsettle the work of the commission as election draws nearer.”

Yakubu said the commission had carefully considered all the eight recommendations specifically addressed to the commission by the EU Election Observation (EU EOM) report on the 2023 general election.

He recalled that in 2019, the EU EOM made 30 recommendations, out of which 11 were specifically addressed to the INEC, noting that three of them were identified as priority recommendations, while eight were categorised as general.

He added that by comparison, the EU EOM 2023 report made 23 recommendations, out of which eight (34.8 percent) require action by the INEC.

He said that the remaining 15 (65.2 percent) recommendations, out of which five were categorised as priority, require action by other entities in the executive, legislature, judiciary, political parties and multiple stakeholders.

“The commission has carefully considered all the eight recommendations specifically addressed to us in your report.

“Action has been taken on aspects of the recommendations that only require administrative action to implement.

“Similarly, action is being taken on cross-cutting recommendations that require collective action between INEC and other bodies and stakeholders, while waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing legal review by the National Assembly on the recommendations that require legislative intervention.”

Yakubu noted that EU’s recommendations, along similar reports from other national and international election observers, were the subject of wide-ranging consultations with critical institutions and stakeholders during INEC’s review of the 2023 general election.

He said the review report contains 142 recommendations for electoral reform, adding that INEC had published the main 2023 general election report over a year ago.

“As you are aware, elections are a process governed by law. Many of your recommendations require the review of our electoral laws.

“For this reason, the commission had interfaced with our National Assembly, including a retreat with the Joint Committee on Electoral Matters.”

Yakubu assured the EU EOM that INEC would continue to engage with the mission and other observers, saying their recommendations had helped to improve the quality of Nigeria’s elections and electoral activities.