The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed that it has no preferred candidate or political party in the 2023 general election.
The electoral commission said it’s only interested in the electoral process of the country.
This was revealed by the commission’s chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, while addressing Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs) for the 2023 general election in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The chairman implored the officials of the electoral body to stay neutral and remain loyal to the country.
“The commission is determined that the 2023 general election will be the best ever and you are the people that will help the commission to make it happen and help to ensure that Nigeria has a pleasant experience on election day.
“INEC is not a political party. INEC has no candidate in the election. Our only interest is in the processes. The choice of who becomes what in Nigeria is left to the Nigerian people to decide,” he said.
“You are the people who supervise those who will work at the most important level, the Polling Units (PUs) level. That is the only place where voting takes place.
“The collation officers at the polling units level are collating results from the PUs. When collation officers at the PU go to the local government level, they are collating results from the PUs.
“When it goes to the state level they are collating results from the PUs and when they come to Abuja, where we collate the presidential result it would have passed through all these processes.
“So, by the time the results come to Abuja, Nigerians would have known the outcome of the election,” he said.
The chairman added:“Our responsibility is simply to collate. So you are playing very critical role. What will help you help the commission, help Nigerians and the electoral process is your Integrity as individuals.”
“Today we are commencing the training of the most critical staff for the 2023 general election. Between today and tomorrow, we will train the PSOs.
“In the FCT we require 282 SPOs but we are training more than that no. We have added 70 to make it a total of 352 in case some are unable to make it on election day for one reason or another, we have a buffer.
“What is happening in FCT is happening in all the 36 days of the federation at the same time.
“Between today Feb. 11 and tomorrow Feb. 12, we will train the SPOs. Then on Tuesday the Feb. 14 to Thursday Feb. 16, we will train the Presiding Officers and Assistant Presiding Officers (APO) 1, 2 and 3,” he said.