By Ezra Ukanwa, Abuja

AS off-circle elections draw closer, the Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Nigeria, ASSPT, Dr. Sam Amadi, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to repeat the mistakes made in the February 25 presidential election, ahead of the Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa gubernatorial elections.

This was as he expressed concerns over the integrity of previous elections in these states, highlighting the importance of rectifying any flaws that may have compromised the electoral processes.

To achieve this, he advised INEC to immediately initiate a thorough assessment of all past mistakes and identify areas where improvements need to be made.

For instance, he said the current insecurity challenges bedeviling Imo state came as a result of the poor electoral process and decision during its 2020 gubernatorial election

He urged INEC to stand firm on its promises of on-the-spot transmission of results as part of efforts to ensure transparency and regain public trust.

Amadi spoke at a policy roundtable, with the theme: “The gubernatorial elections in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa: A national Security Challenge”, held, Friday, in Abuja.

He said: “Everything points to a significant degree of failure on INEC and the other stakeholders like the defense, military, police and all that. So, now, we are about to face another election. The governorship elections in Imo Bayelsa and Kogi states. Already we are here getting discordant messages about this election.

“Earlier on, INEC had said that we are going to do transmission of these elections, which is what they promised at the presidential election. And just some two to three days ago, we got news circulated that Bayelsa elections will be manually collated.

“So, back to the same false assurance and false confidence. We know that a place like Imo is under serious security threats in terms of the very sad incident of the killing of Nigerian soldiers.

“So, the issue for us is what do we need to do to ensure that this off-season elections do not worsen the insecurity crisis in the state? We know that if elections are manipulated, it could spike into new levels of insecurity, particularly in Imo state.

“Is it not time for extreme actions to be taken, considering the level of insecurity in that state and to change or ensure that the election is free and fair? That’s really our worry.”