INEC Picks Date To Begin 2023 Post-Election Review

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed July 4 for the conduct of a post-election review of the 2023 general election, in line with its practice over the years.

The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

Recall that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and other presidential candidates to emerge as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

However, Atiku and Obi, who did not accept the presidential election results declared by INEC, have headed to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory.

According to Okoye, the review will commence with a meeting of the Resident Electoral Commissioners on July 4 and end with the Commission’s retreat on August 5.

Okoye noted that the review will focus on all aspects of the electoral activities before, during, and after the elections to learn lessons and chart the way forward.

He added that a detailed schedule of activities and timelines will be released immediately after the meeting with RECs on July 4, 2023.

The statement read in part, “The review will commence with a meeting of the Resident Electoral Commissioners on July 4, 2023, and end with the Commission’s retreat on August 5, 2023.

“At the State level, the internal review will involve the Commission’s regular and ad hoc staff, including RECs, the 774 Electoral Officers, Heads of Departments, Administrative Secretaries, as well as some Presiding Officers and Collation/Returning Officers.

“The external engagement will involve critical stakeholders such as political parties, security agencies, election observers, the media, and service providers such as transporters that facilitated the movement of personnel and materials for the election.

“The review will focus on all aspects of the electoral activities before, during, and after the elections. Specifically, the Commission welcomes actionable recommendations from stakeholders towards strengthening institutional capacity for the discharge of its responsibilities and the enhancement of processes and procedures.”