Yiaga Africa Director, Samson Itodo, says some Resident Electoral Commissioner nominees have political affiliations.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently nominated 19 new RECs and sent their names to the Senate for approval.
Itodo, while speaking on the 2023 general elections on a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, urged the Senate to be thorough in its screening of the nominees.
Itodo said, “Now that Resident Electoral Commissioners have been appointed, some of them we know have political affiliations; we know some have been indicted for corrupt practices. The Senate should ensure any nominee of the president that has a questionable character and partisan leaning is not cleared as a Resident Electoral Commissioner to manage election because if they are deployed to those states and begin to advance their partisan interest they are going to get push back from other political actors.
“When there is perceived injustice, an attempt by the incumbent to capture INEC, and if other political actors don’t have confidence that INEC is impartial and it has been captured by the ruling party that is also is a recipe for disaster and violence.”
The YIAGA Africa director added that Nigerians are honestly looking for campaigns defined by issues and desired leaders that can provide excellent leadership.