Education, Social and Health Mission (MESH)has joined relevant stakeholders to congratulate Nigerians for their determination, patience and resilience displayed during and after the Elections. Despite the long queues at some polling units,
According to MESH,Nigerian voters demonstrated commitment to participate in the process and a strong desire to ensure their votes count.
The National Coordinator, MESH Observers Group,Oladipupo Khadijah stated this while presenting report on 2023 General Elections
MESH said;”The elections leaves lessons to be learnt in strengthening our democratic processes as a country.
“MESH observers across the country gave positive report about substantial adherence to the electoral process and procedure as stipulated by the electoral legal framework. Of particular importance was the BVAS technology deployed for accreditation and voting which has worked maximally across the country with very little hitches recorded. Though the BVAS machine was designed to check manipulations, the technology needs to be improved to transmit election results in real time to avoid rigging in order to protect the sanctity of the election results. High percentage of female electoral officials and large turnout of female voters was observed. Security personnel showed high degree of professionalism during the election across the country.
“Logistical challenges and isolated incidents of political violence, late arrival of electoral officers, overcrowded polling units, over voting, late hour collation of results overshadowed the largely successful electoral process and impeded a substantial number of voters from participating. The inability of election officials to upload and transmit election results in real time via the BVAS machine gave room for apprehension in some quarters.
“We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a thorough post-elections review, to draw lessons and consider improving on their logistics operations, make provision for electricity at polling units for recharging BVAS machines and light up the polling units in case the voting process runs late, and to implement the recommendations of observers groups”.
MESH also appealed to politician to play by the rules guiding the Electoral process and to refrain from the use of provocative language, dissemination of misinformation, which could create political tension, divisiveness, violence and undermine the democratic progress in Nigeria.
The group urged all stakeholders especially Faith-Based Organizations to intensify voters’ education to reawaken and re-orientate Nigerians on the need to participate fully in the electoral process and shun violence at all costs.
Education, Social and Health Mission (MESH)is an NGO of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), actively participated in the process of observing the Presidential and National Assembly Elections held on the 25th February, 2023. The Elections were observed with the support of a Coalition of Muslim Organizations across the Country. MESH observed the Continuous and Accreditation Voters System (CVAS) procedure where voters were accredited and voted at the same time using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
