APC Not Ready To Conduct Credible Elections In 2023 - Gov. Ortom

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The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom says there are strong indications that the All Progressive Congress, APC-led federal government may not conduct free and credible elections next year.

The Governor bared his mind during a courtesy visit to senior leadership of the International Republican Institute (IRI), Washington, DC on Wednesday.

Ortom asserted that transparency in election will not be free and fair as the federal government is appointing card-carrying members of the APC into the electoral body.

“Why would card-carrying members of the APC be eligible for appointment as personnel of the electoral body?”, the Governor asked.

“Already, there are protests over the inclusion of some persons, suspected to be members of the APC as Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).

He maintained that Nigerians are apprehensive that some activities of the electoral body have not sufficiently demonstrated its independence.

The governor pointed out that the insecurity in the country where large communities were wiped out or chased out of their ancestral lands and replaced by bandits may be used as an excuse to prolong the tenancy of the ruling party.

Governor Ortom further averred that INEC’s incoherence regarding electronic transmission of elections was unsettling.

“The fact that the umpire appears to shift the goalpost to accommodate the sloppiness of the ruling party in observing its ostensible firm timetable deadlines calls for concern.”

Governor Ortom, therefore, tasked the international election monitors and the international community to stand on the side of justice with Nigerians to deliver a credible election that ensures peace and protects democracy in Nigeria.