Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu has praised the electoral process in Ghana.
Ghanaians voted on Saturday to elect a new President and Parliamentarians and there was no single case of ballot snatching by thugs, rewriting of results, police and army intimidation of voters, vote buying and electoral officials collecting bribes.
Prof. Yakubu after the 2023 elections came under a lot of criticism for organising an election characterised by these anomalies. He has also been accused of acting the script of the All-Progressives Congress the ruling party, by Nigerian opposition parties.
Yakubu who was part of the election’s observers said in a video: “We are grateful that the election has gone very well.
“The process and its outcome so far have been commendable, and we continue to support our colleagues in Ghana’s Electoral Commission.
“Although Ghana is not a federal system, they learnt from Nigeria where you have returning officers who announce results for parliamentary elections in the various constituencies around the country. Only the presidential election results come to Accra.
“In Nigeria, this is what we have done and they borrowed a leave from us, and this is the second time they are implementing that. That is why, as you can see, the declaration of the presidential election result was a lot faster than it used to be in the past,” he explained.
He also spoke about politicians cross carpeting at will.
“Rarely in Ghana do you see people moving from one party to another with every general election. So, that is important.
“It provides stability. It also provides their supporters (with) stability. So, there are people who have supported political parties for many years. So, whether the party is in power or opposition, they stick to the political party,” he added.
