The Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) has said that they were made to appear before the court 680 times after the 2015 general elections.
This was disclosed by the INEC director of Information Mr Nick Dazang while delivering a good will message at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) colloquium towards a credible election held at Arewa House Kaduna.
According to Dazang, most of the cases could have been avoided if the political parties entrenched internal democracy to the letter.
He said there is the need for the parties to ensure that they follow the laid down rules to avoid friction within their ranks.
Commenting further on the election, Dazang remarked that the 2015 election was about the best to be held in the country as there was no interference.
He also called on the various stakeholders to start the preparations now as there is no time, saying, ‘we are already mid-way to 2019’.
Dazang also disclosed that the electoral commission is determined to have a credible election in 2019, stressing, “We have commenced preparations. This is to tell you how serious we are.”
Also speaking at the event, the National President of the NUJ Waheed Odusile charged members to be fair in their reportage and avoid sensational reports that would heat the polity. He also counselled journalists not to allow themselves to be used by the politicians.
In his own remarks, the guest speaker, Festus Okoye called for the scrapping of the resident commissioners, saying, this was necessary because if they are found wanting you cannot sack them.
To this end, he called for the appointment of election managers to replace the resident commissioners to run elections at state level.
‘If we have election managers, you can replace them if they are found wanting,’ he stressed.
Earlier, the chairman of the NUJ Kaduna state council, Adamu Yusuf said the essence of the colloquium is the assess the lessons learnt in the 2015 election with the view to having a road map towards the 2019 election.