The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged political parties to adhere with the Electoral Act during the 2023 electioneering process.
Its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Cross River, Dr. Alalibo Johnson, made the appeal at a meeting in Calabar, yesterday. He tasked political parties to observe the threshold of campaign expenditure as provided by the law under sections 87 to 89 of the electoral Act 2022, saying INEC would not condone violation of these provisions.
“Campaign which commences in the public from September 28 2022 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections nationwide, will be expected to follow the law strictly. Political parties and politicians must avoid use of foul languages, attack or use of force on opposition parties and candidates, employment of private security organisations by whatever name called or in whatever guise, violent activities of any kind and other electoral offences.”
Johnson said Election and Political Parties Monitoring Department (EPM) of the commission was poised to track such in their campaign activities.
He said there were still more than 90,000 uncollected Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) across the 18 local government areas of the state. He called on political parties to mobilise their members and other stakeholders to collect their PVCs.