YIAGA Africa calls out premature campaigns for 2027 vote against INEC warning
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Election monitoring outfit YIAGA Africa has criticised the ongoing premature political party campaigns for the 2027 ballot, describing them as illegal and demanding tougher sanctions for the perpetrators by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as stipulated in the Electoral Act.
YIAGA Africa Executive Director Samson Itodo said the illegal campaigns are detrimental to governance and will not stop unless the INEC takes action.
“The law is clear that you should not engage in campaigns, not earlier than 150 days,” argued on Arise Television.
“You just look at the entire country. It just feels like we’ve got elections this weekend. And so people have abandoned governance and focused more on politicking and just electioneering.
“INEC has not issued timetable for the 2027 elections. Party primaries have not been conducted. Why is it that these actors are involved in what?”
Itodo described the early electioneering as another sign of impunity of the political elite.
“It’s just across the board, and it’s just sad. It just tells you the level of impunity that you’ve got, the political elites that are not playing the game of politics by its rules.”
To him, the current $500 penalty for flouting campaign rules is easily affordable by political parties and advocated for stricter punishment.
“It’s not a deterrence. I think that we need to impose stiffer sanctions. The point needs to be made that when premature campaigns become the order of the day, what suffers is governance.”
The INEC on Monday cautioned political parties and candidates against premature electioneering in the run up to the 2027 election in clear violation of the Electoral Act 2022.
Per The PUNCH, INEC Chairman Chief Press Secretary Rotimi Oyekanmi reiterated that premature election campaign contravene Section 94(1) and 95 (1) of the Electoral Act.
“Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 stipulates that the period of campaigning in public by political parties for an election shall commence 150 days before polling day and end 24 hours before that day,” Oyekanmi insisted.
“Section 95 (1) of the Act also states clearly that a candidate and his or her party shall campaign for an election in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be determined by INEC.”
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