Former federal lawmaker, Dachung Bagos, has known as on the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) to show its neutrality by penalizing President Bola Tinubu and his supporters for displaying “Vote Tinubu 2027” billboards lengthy earlier than the official marketing campaign interval begins.
He revealed this whereas talking on AIT Concentrate on Thursday.
In accordance with the previous member representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, the adverts clearly violate Part 94 of the Electoral Act, 2022, which bars marketing campaign messages explicitly soliciting votes outdoors the authorized window.
“The regulation is towards utilizing the phrase ‘vote for,’ so any early discussions in marketing campaign posters that speak about ‘vote for’ are the one issues that the regulation talks about,” Bagos mentioned.
“That’s the reason you see in Abuja at this time that somebody put the banner and poster of the president with out including ‘vote for.’ They only put their 2027, so it’s now left so that you can interpret what 2027 is speaking about.”
He famous that one of many billboards featured the president and his spouse with the phrases “Vote Tinubu 2027,” which he mentioned was a violation of the regulation.
“With that phrase ‘vote,’ it’s towards the regulation, in Part 94. Whosoever, both the candidate or the occasion that places that, INEC is meant to have sanctioned this particular person,” he mentioned.
“If it’s the president and there’s no occasion emblem, due to the vote alone, INEC is meant to sanction the president and warning him.”
Bagos challenged the electoral physique to behave decisively, warning that failure to take action may make INEC seem biased forward of the 2027 elections.
