Stakeholders tackle INEC over absence at ICPC election monitoring training
By Isaac Aregbesola
Participants at the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) capacity training for National Anti-Corruption Coalition (NACC) members on election monitoring have expressed disappointment over the absence of INEC at the programme.
The training, organised by the ICPC, was aimed at equipping NACC members with skills for effective election monitoring to ensure credible polls.
Mr Idris Abu, a member of NACC and the Executive Director of the Organisation of People’s Voice, said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
According to him, the programme is aimed at better equipping NACC members for effective election monitoring ahead of the 2027 general elections.
”It focused on two key areas: how to access grants to sustain grassroots anti-corruption advocacy, and how to better deliver the message of the commission to ordinary Nigerians at the grassroots.
”INEC as election umpire is a key stakeholder in such crucial engagement, its absence was not just disappointing but a clear sign that the electoral body is not serious about transparency and credible elections in 2027.
“How can ICPC be organising a programme to prepare civil society to monitor elections and INEC, the main actor, is absent? It shows lack of respect for stakeholders.
”If INEC cannot be present at a preparatory meeting now, how will they cooperate with observers during the general elections.”
He noted that NACC members across the country were ready to take the anti-corruption and electoral integrity message to the grassroots.
He, however, said that the members needed collaboration from INEC, especially on voter education, access to information, and monitoring of vote-buying, which ICPC is targeting.
He called on INEC leadership to take its stakeholder engagement seriously and stop operating in isolation.
He warned that without synergy between ICPC, NACC and INEC, efforts to curb electoral corruption and grant manipulation at the grassroots in 2027 might fail.
Also speaking, Mr Jare Tiamiyu, another NACC’s member from Osun, said he was equally disappointed that INEC failed to honour an invitation from a constitutionally recognised sister agency like the ICPC.
“If ICPC, a constitutionally recognised agency, is inviting INEC and INEC is not responding, how do you think that any group or agency will invite INEC and they will respond?
”Openness is very important. We don’t have to wait until we have crisis before responding,” Tiamiyu said.
Also Mr Felix Ojo, a member of NACC and a journalist, said absence of INEC and its representative at such critical engagement spoke volumes.
He urged the election umpire to give priority to meetings and engagements that could enhance election’s integrity.
When contacted, the Director of Public Enlightenment and Education, ICPC, Mr Demola Bakare, said the commission collaborated with competent partners, key among them was INEC, to train stakeholders on credible election.
“Regrettably, we invited INEC but INEC they were not represented. All efforts to bring them into the programme till the last minutes failed.
”I sent out a deputy director to lead a team to convince INEC to come or send representatives here. We did that on two or three occasions but they refused to honour our invitation,” he said.
He explained that, while ICPC has monitored elections in the past, it wanted to formalise the process so that its officials could be deployed alongside NACC members to observe elections together.
“They won’t say no for ICPC to monitor election, it is official, we have done it in the past. We want to formalise it so that we can go along with it.
”For example in the states, we deploy our officials with NACC members to observe the election together. That was what we want to negotiate with INEC but unfortunately they did not come,” Bakare added.
Responding, a senior officer in the INEC Chairman’s office, who would not want to be quoted, refuted the claim that the commission deliberately absented itself from the programme.
The officer said that INEC currently had series of engagements as it prepared for the 2027 general elections and would not have deliberately ignored ICPC’s invitation.
”The commission holds the ICPC in very high regard as a critical stakeholder in the fight against electoral corruption, particularly vote-buying and other electoral offences.
”The collaboration between INEC and ICPC over the years has been cordial, productive and mutually beneficial to our shared mandate of delivering credible elections.
”At no time did INEC decline to collaborate with ICPC on election monitoring. On the contrary, INEC has always welcomed election observation and monitoring by ICPC, NACC and other credible bodies, in line with extant laws and guidelines.
”The commission’s record of accrediting observers, including ICPC officials, in previous elections bears testimony to this openness.”
Edited by Chioma Ugboma
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