By Idris Khalid
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Bauchi has expressed worrisome that the performance of Inter- Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in areas of giving advices to the commission leaves much to be desired, hence the need for the council to gear up in this regard which is the main objective behind its formation.
The commission, while responding to the elections of new executive members of IPAC in Bauchi, noted that the formation of the council is not only for politicking, but for putting heads together with it in order to take critical decisions that will improve the conduct of elections in Nigeria.
It spoke through the Personal Assistant to INEC Commissioner in Bauchi, Ahmed Waziri who during the IPAC state elections held Yesterday at INEC Mahmood Yakubu Conference Hall, Bauchi, said the essence of the council is to join hands with the commission to improve the efficiency of conducting elections in the country.
“INEC is progressing; a lot of innovations are being introduced in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Right from the innovation of the use of card readers, innovation in any other aspect of elections and now what we are approaching is the issue of electronic voting which the commission says it wants to test during the in-coming Anambra governorship elections”, he said.
Malam Ahmed Waziri noted that the task before the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) is not a small one as, according to him, it must be studying current happenings in the country’s political circles, as we as giving advices to the commission even if it were at state level.
He appealed to the newly elected IPAC officials in Bauchi to make a difference by cueing in their contributions for the improvement of the electoral processes when it comes to the issue of elections, adding "We would not be meeting only for the sake of electing IPAC officers only to leave until the end of their tenure to meet again for next elections”.
Elections into the leadership of the Inter- Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Bauchi state was conducted by the Electoral Committee Chairman, Salisu S. Dawaki who during the exercise noted that IPAC is not an opposition body, whereas a sitting party will not be a member.
The Electoral Committee Chairman explained that IPAC is an umbrella body of all registered political parties formed by the parties under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and it has been in existence for more than 10 years.
Those elected into the Bauchi IPAC Executive are Mohammed Kamisu Haruna of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as Chairman, Yusuf M. Ambi of the Action Alliance (AA) as the Deputy Chairman, the post of Secretary of the council goes to Khalid Arewa of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) while the position of Deputy Secretary went to Yakubu Ahmed Captain of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
Also elected are Comrade Hamza Garba of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) who bagged the post of Organizing Secretary, Kabir Abdulhamid Shuwa of the APP was elected Publicity Secretary, Umar Yakubu Abubakar of the African Action Congress (AAC) was Financial Secretary, the post of Treasurer went Hafsat Shehu of APGA, while Barr. Hussaini Saraki is the council’s legal adviser.
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