Emmanuel Awari, Jalingo
The Coalition of Taraba Academics for Continuity and Development has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC to discharge its constitutional responsibilities with independence professionalism, transparency and accountability.
The National Chairman of the Coalition, Professor David Agbu, stated this during a sensitization programme for politicians and political parties in Southern Taraba.
He said, “Section 153(1)(f) together with paragraph 14 of part I establish INEC and provides its constitutional functions. INEC is constitutionally responsible for organizing, undertaking and supervising elections to the offices specified under the constitution, as well as performing other electoral functions assigned to it.”
According to him, the Electoral Act, 2026, signed into law on 18th February 2026, have provided an innovations, including electronic accreditation of voters Section 47, Electronic transmission of Results, Section 60(3), National Electronic Register of Election Results Section 62, Nomination of Candidates Section 84 and Electoral offences and sanctions.
Professor Agbu enumerated the roles that academics play in ensuring legal provisions translating into credible elections to include, Civic and Voter Education, Research and evidence-based policy recommendations, Political neutrality and intellectual independence. Others are Monitoring and observation of elections, Promotion of peace and prevention of violence, Accountability and the rule of law, Mentorship of young people and feature leaders and Promotion of inclusive democracy
He said that the essence of the Coalition is to ensure continuty of Democracy moves forward.
“Taraba State is blessed with intellectuals resources, Universities, Colleges of Education, polytechnics, and other Institutions of higher learning. We must deploy those resources towards building a political conscious, peaceful and democratical responsible society.
“The Coalition of Taraba Academics for Continuity and Development believes that academics have a responsibility to contribute meaningfully to democratic development, good governance, national unity and rule of law. We must encourage our students and the public to understand that political differences should not divide our communities or destroy our relationships.
“We must remind our political actors that elections are not warfare, political opponents are not enemies and electoral victory should never be pursued at the expense of human lives, national unity or constitutional order.
“The challenges confronting the electoral system in Nigeria to include, Vote buying and selling, Electoral violence, Manipulation of elections results, Voter apathy and inadequate civic education, Inadequate electoral logistics and technological challenges, Abuse of incumbency and misuse of public resources, Inadequate enforcement of electoral offences, Prolonged election litigation and conflicting interpretations of electoral laws, and ethics and religious sentiments capable of undermining national unity.
According to him, those challenges required collective attention from government, INEC, Political Parties, Security agencies, Civil Society Organizations, the Judiciary and the Academic community.
He used the forum to call upon Universities, political stakeholders and Civic Society Organizations to work together towards strengthening Nigeria’s democractic institutions.
“Let the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC discharge its constitutional responsibilities with independence, professionalism, transparency and accountability.
“Let security agencies remain politically neutral and protect the electoral rights of all citizens. Let the judiciary continue to uphold the constitution and dispense electoral justice without fear or favour.
“Let Academics rise to the challenge of providing the intellectual leadership necessary for Democratic consolidation in Nigeria – he stated.
In their goodwill messages, candidates contesting under various political parties said that they would ensure that elections go on smoothly.
Speaking, the Chairman of Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission, TSIEC Hon. Bala Aji said that the role of academic community in the democractic process can not be overemphasized.
“Universities and other Institutions of higher learning are not merely centers for the acquisition of certificates and academic qualifications, they are also centers for the development of characters, critical thinking, responsible citizenship and national consciousness.”
He urged the academics to raise above partisan consideration and use their intellectual influence to promote electoral awareness, political tolerance, peace education and democratic values.
“You have a responsibility to educate our younger ones against electoral violence, vote buying, misinformation, hate speech and other practices capable of undermining our democracy.”
Aji appealed to political leaders and party stakeholders that politics is about competition for leadership and most never be competition for destruction of relationships, communities or human lives.
“There will always be winners and losers in an electoral contest. However, we must remember that after every election, we remain brothers and sisters of the same Taraba State.
“Let us embrace issue based campaigns, respect opposition views, discourage inflammatory statements and educate our supporters to conduct themselves responsibly.
“No political ambition is worth the blood of any citizen, and no electoral victory is worth the destruction of peace of our State,” he said.
He called on traditional rulers, religious leaders, the Media, Civil Society Organizations, youth groups and security agencies to intensify their contributions towards peaceful elections.
For a better society
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