Why INEC Failed To Call Political Players To Order – Buba Galadima

A chieftain of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has lamented over the Independent National Electoral Commission‘s (INEC) inability to call political players to order over the early campaign.

Naijaonpoint reports that Galadima, while featuring on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, stated that even though INEC is constitutionally empowered to political players to order, it cannot because those who pay the piper dictate the tune.

Galadima emphasised that the ruling All Progressives Congress started the early campaign.

He said, “In the last six months, I complained severally about INEC’s inability to call political players to order.

“I painfully realised that they are not in a position to call them to order because those who pay the piper dictate the tune.

“This issue of campaigning before being allowed by INEC was started by the government of the day.

“And this suggests that INEC cannot be an umpire in the political environment we have today.”

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded full implementation of the Electoral Act provisions on electronic transmission of results in the 2027 general elections, warning that it would resist any attempt to manipulate the process or undermine the will of Nigerians.

Section 64 (4), (5), and (6) of the Electoral Act 2022 mandates the recording and transmission of election results directly from polling units using the Smart Card Reader (SCR) or any other electronic device approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC had admitted that “glitches” marred the real-time transmission of the 2023 presidential results, sparking outrage across the country.

At a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the party was deeply concerned about what he described as “institutional manipulation” of past elections.