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Tag: INEC

  • 2019: INEC reports own staff to police, DSS for registering ineligible voters

    The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has reported some of its senior officials in Taraba State to security agencies for allegedly registering ineligible voters during the Continuous Voter Registration exercise.

    INEC failed to mention if the illegal voters were aliens or underage voters. It also failed to reveal the identities of the senior officials that were given queries.

    In a statement by the Head of Voter Education and Publicity in Taraba State, Fabian Vwamhi, the commission said the illegal voters had been expunged from the register.

    The statement read in part, “Following its laid down processes, INEC Taraba office has discovered that some ineligible voters have been registered in the ongoing CVR exercise.

    “This is not only contrary to INEC’s guidelines for registration, but is also a violation of the Electoral Act.

    “Consequently, the Taraba State office has flagged these illegal registrations for removal from the voter register.

    “In addition, it has queried the electoral officer as well as the registration officer for the centre.

    “It has informed the headquarters of the commission in Abuja and drawn the attention of security agencies for further investigation and possible prosecution of all found to have been involved, including INEC staff.”

  • JUST IN: INEC to begin distribution of PVCs

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to their owners will begin by middle of May.

    The Ebonyi INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Godswill Obioma disclosed at a strategic security interactive meeting on Wednesday in Abakaliki.

    The strategic meeting involved INEC officials, representatives of security outfits involved in the conduct of election as well as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

    Obioma said that the commission would commence the distribution of the PVCs to eligible electorate, who registered between 2017 and 2018.

    He urged security officials, who were yet to register, to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to register.

    He further urged members of the security agencies, who transferred from other locations, wishing to transfer their cards to Ebonyi to approach any INEC office nearest to them for the transfer.

    He warned against double registration, noting that any double registration would result to cancellation and disqualification of the voter.

    “We have concluded arrangements for the distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards to their owners and the exercise begins by mid May and will involve those who registered between 2017 and 2018.

    “We have begun early to plan for the 2019 elections and I want to assure you that we will do our best to eliminate factors that will compromise outcome, credibility and integrity of the elections.

    “Let me use the opportunity to urge officers who have not registered to register and those wishing to do card transfer to visit any INEC office for the update,” Obioma said.

    The resident commissioner said that the strategic meeting was part of the early preparatory arrangements by the commission aimed at mobilising its critical partners and stakeholders.

    He said that the interactive security meeting would deepen collaboration between the security operatives and the commission and boost proper security arrangements and understanding ahead of the elections.

    According to him, the meeting is running concurrently at the three Senatorial zones of Ebonyi including Ebonyi South, Ebonyi Central and Ebonyi North Senatorial zones.

    “The briefing is called cluster briefing running concurrently at the three Senatorial zones of the state which has in attendance all security agencies involved in the Inter Agency Consultative on Election Security (IACES).

    “The aim is to plan properly, especially in the areas of security and the idea is to share information on the proper conduct of elections.

    “The commission is making plans in earnest for smooth, transparent and credible elections and we need adequate security to ensure safety and security of INEC staff and materials,” he said.

    He explained that IACES had set up a security sub-committee to identify number of security personnel to be deployed to polling units and voting points.

    He said that security operatives that would be involved in the election would undergo a joint training programme on election security.

    He said the training would enable the operatives imbibe high ethical standard before the elections as well as equip them with knowledge of security strategies developed by INEC to ensure credible poll.

    Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Ebonyi and chairman of IACES, Mr Titus Sumba-Lamorde said security operatives would ensure that safety of voters, INEC materials and officials are guaranteed during the elections.

    The Commissioner, who was represented by DSP Linus Iwuanyanwu, Divisional Police Officer, Izzi Police Division, charged operatives who would be engaged in the election exercise to display professionalism and high ethical conduct.

    He said that IACES and the commission would address all security concerns that would be articulated in the meeting with a view to enhancing proper security arrangements before, during and after the elections.

    “Security agencies will ensure proper synergy and collaboration to enhance security of INEC sensitive and non-sensitive materials including election officials during the elections,” Sumba-Lamorde said.

    He said the meeting was part of the Election Projects Plan and contributions to enable the commission to effectively plan on security matters for the election.

    Security agencies in attendance include: Army, Police, Department of State Security, Prisons, Civil Defence, Road Safety, National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency and NOA among others.

     

  • 2019: INEC inaugurates election monitoring support committee

    The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has inaugurated a nine-member ‘Election Monitoring and Support Centre Committee’, as part of preparations towards the 2019 General Elections.

    While addressing the committee members in his office on Tuesday, he noted that with 68 political parties and 1,558 constituencies at the moment, the task of organising a general election in Nigeria “is really a very big task.”

    The commission had inaugurated a sixteen member Election Project Plan (EPPC) Committee to implement the commission’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan of action.

    “As a commission, we have to track the activities in the EPP (Election Project Plan) and we are going to rely on this committee. In other words, you are the secretariat for the implementation of the EPP.

    “We carefully selected men and women, boys and girls that we are absolutely sure are dedicated and have the intellectual capacity to work, not just for 24 hours, but for more than 24 hours.

    “Let me on behalf of the commission congratulate you. This is really a big task and I appreciate your acceptance to serve as members of this committee.”

    The committee is expected to conclude its assignment within four weeks.

    It was given the following Terms of Reference:

    To establish the EMSC Secretariat for the 2019 General Elections; to finalise the EMSC Checklist; to finalise the integrated platform for the EMSC; to prepare and submit a comprehensive memo to the Commission through the PMSC for the effective implementation of EMSC operations and to make any other recommendations for the successful implementation of the 2019 Election Project Plan.

    The Committee is chaired by the Special Adviser to the Chairman, Mohammed Kuna.

    Members of the committee are; Director, Planning and Monitoring; Okechukwu Ndeche, Deputy Director, ICT; Paul Omokore, Deputy Director, ERM; Ifeanyi Agoha and Deputy Director, EOSC, Jibreen Jameel El-Yakub.

    Other members include Deputy Director, The Electoral Institute; Victoria Eta-Messi, Assistant Director (EMS); Victoria Umoren, Nkiru Amadi-Emina and Moses Danladi Adayilo.

  • INEC inaugurates task teams to drive elections’ projects plan in Ebonyi

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ebonyi, on Tuesday inaugurated 19 different committees to drive the commission ‘s Elections’ Projects Plan (EPP), ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    The committees are: Inventory Committee, Election Monitoring and Support Centre Committee, Electronic Dashboard Committee, Security Committee, Domestication of EPP Committee, among others.

    The Ebonyi INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Godswill Obioma, inaugurated the committees at the commission’s state headquarters in Abakaliki.

    He said that the action was in line with directive from the national headquarters of the commission.

    According to him, the committees known as Elections’ Projects Plan task teams will carry out various responsibilities preparatory to 2019 general elections.

    He said that each of the committees has specific activities, team leader, team members, time line and terms of references.

    The resident commissioner described the inauguration as a ‘defining’ moment for the commission as it moved closer to the 2019 general elections.

    He said: “The Elections’ Projects Plan is a document developed by INEC to drive the implementation of transparent elections for 2019.

    “Therefore, the inauguration of the 19 Elections’ Projects Plan task teams is a defining moment for the commission in Ebonyi because they are going to drive transparent conduct of 2019 elections.

    “INEC has developed a five-year strategic plan covering 2017 and 2021 and what this means is that whatever INEC does in terms of election and other activities are captured in the strategic plan.

    “You have a daunting task to make the commission to succeed in the 2019 general elections and you must work hard within your committees to enable the commission achieve better result”.

    The resident commissioner said that a monitoring team would be set up to ensure that various committees worked within the time line.

    The INEC’s Administrative Secretary, Mr Charles Ezema, who responded on behalf of other heads of the committees, assured that the committees would carry out the assignments diligently and in accordance with terms of reference.

    “The committees will not disappoint the commission on this very important assignment and we must work within the time line.

    “What we have done today has helped our understanding to know that election is a process which can be reduced into strategic planning for efficient and effective result.

    “It is important that we take our responsibilities seriously, especially now that we have 68 registered political parties to contend with, ” Ezema said.

    Activities expected to be performed by the task teams include: to domesticate the 2019 Elections Projects Plan in order to design a state-based 2019 EPP for Ebonyi, adopt final report of the inventory committee.

    Other activities also include to set up state Election Monitoring Centre (EMSC), create Electronic Dashboard for state EMSC, reactivate periodic data – gathering for base line data, among others.

    The task teams are expected to conclude all their assignments by April 4.

     

  • Underage voting: INEC is threatening Nigeria’s democracy, says PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, that there are no underage voters in Kano State as a despicable act of cowardice and threat to the nation’s democracy.

    The PDP said the INEC Chairman, in allowing the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to push him to make such false declaration, despite manifest documentary evidence in the public domain and even by INEC officials, has cast a huge doubt on the sincerity of INEC to conduct a fair, free and credible elections, come 2019.

    PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Sunday, said the commission has obliterated a huge part of its honour by denying what is obvious to all instead of taking urgent steps to clean up the register and correct all anomalies ahead of 2019 general elections.

    When Prof Yakubu set up his committee of handpicked INEC officials, instead of deploying stakeholders, comprising of political parties and credible NGOs, the PDP immediately alerted of a grand design to use the panel to arrive at predetermined findings and cover the illegality for the APC. Today, we have been vindicated.

    We invite Nigerians and the international community to note the sequence of plots by INEC and the APC to hide the existence of underage voters in Kano and Katsina states.

    Nigerians will recall that when the issue first came to the fore, the APC mounted a staunch and unyielding defence for INEC, thus betraying their vested interests in the illegality.

    INEC, on its own part, issued an initial reaction confirming the existence of underage voting in the February 10, 2018 Kano council poll but attempted to shift the blame to the Kano state government which conducted that poll.

    When confronted with the fact that it was INEC and not Kano state that registered the minors and issued them with valid voters card, the commission again tried to exonerate itself by claiming that its officials registered the minors following threats by the communities.

    In the face of these INEC’s embarrassing dances, how then did Prof. Yakubu’s committee arrive at its findings when even officials of INEC, including those who superintended over the registration of the minors, had already declared the reasons behind their action?

    The entire world is shocked at how INEC under Prof. Yakubu is caving into pressure by APC to manipulate processes leading to the 2019 general election.

    In any case, we hope Prof. Yakubu understands that the APC is only setting him up against Nigerians but we caution that he should not allow himself to be used to throw our nation into chaos and confusion.

    He should therefore extricate himself by allowing a credible inquest that will sanitize the register in Kano, Katsina and other states as nothing short of that will be accepted by Nigerians.

     

  • Double registration saga: I’m not aware of INEC’s probe – Bello

    Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has said he is not aware of the allegation of double registration levelled against him by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The governor said this in response to INEC’s position that he has not been let off the hook over the alleged double registration scandal.

    He spoke through the state’s Director-General, Publicity and Media Strategy, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo.

    Fanwo stated that Bello had made it clear that he was not in the country on the day he was alleged to have registered for the second time.

    He said, “We are not aware that the governor was on any hook as far as the issue of double registration is concerned. He has said several times that he was not in the country when the purported double registration was allegedly done. We have evidence to that effect.”

    Fanwo insisted that the governor applied for the transfer of his Permanent Voter Card to his polling unit in Okene and that INEC had done what was appropriate in the circumstance.

    INEC had, on Thursday, said the governor’s case of double registration was pending and that he would have been prosecuted, but for his immunity adding that “the needful will be done at the appropriate time.”

     

  • INEC to seek partnership with NURTW on transport arrangement

    INEC to seek partnership with NURTW on transport arrangement

    INEC says it will enter into strategic partnership with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to ensure an effective distribution of materials and personnel ahead of the 2019 elections.

     

    Prof Godswill Obioma, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ebonyi, said this at a meeting attended by representatives of the 29 branches of the NURTW and INEC officials on Saturday in Abakaliki.

     

    Obioma commended the union for the previous partnership with the commission in the area of transport arrangements.

     

    The REC said that transportation was a critical component of election involving timely movement of INEC personnel and electoral materials.

     

    According to him, elections are held between 8a.m. and 4p. m.

     

    “It becomes pertinent that adequate transportation arrangements are made to ensure that INEC officials and materials are moved to designated election centres on time.”

     

    He said the meeting was in line with the directives from the commission’s national headquarters that state offices of INEC should hold meetings with its strategic partners on election planning.

     

    The REC told members of the NURTW that the meeting was to enable the commission embark on early transportation planning.

     

    He said that the initiative would also help the commission to overcome avoidable mobility challenges.

     

    Obioma said that the meeting was a follow up to an earlier meeting held between the commission and the union.

     

    “The main purpose of this meeting is to start planning early the transportation arrangements and it is also a follow up to the meeting held last month.

     

    “We made some far reaching resolutions during the last meeting and it becomes even more urgent to partner with your union in making transportation arrangement now that our headquarters has given us orders to do so.

     

    “We were told to go back and meet with our stakeholders in various aspects to begin arrangements in earnest for the elections.

     

    “We have just met with the committee in charge of security called the Inter Agency Consultative Committee in Electoral Security,” he said.

     

    Obioma explained that they had used the opportunity availed by the meeting to lay out strategic plans for security.

     

    He said, “the Commissioner of Police is the chairman and REC is the co-chair man. ”

     

    The REC said that a nine-man joint sub-committee to work out the modalities for effective engagement of the transporters would be constituted at the end of the meeting.

     

    He commended the union for attending the meeting and reassured its members of the commitment of the commission aimed at sustaining existing cordial relationship between it and NURTW.

     

    Obioma also restated the commitment of the electoral body to conduct credible, free and fair elections in Ebonyi in 2019.

     

    The state chairman of the NURTW, Chief Oko Ewa, said the union would support the commission to succeed in the areas of transportation.

     

    Ewa, represented by the state secretary, Mr Sunday Ebude, said that NURTW would respect the partnership arrangement.

     

    The NURTW Chairman also commended the commission for starting the planning one year ahead of the election.

     

    “The early planning will enable both the commission and our union to resolve every challenge that may arise along the line.

     

    “NURTW has been a critical partner of INEC and we assure you that we are going to abide by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the committee will come up with, ” he said.

    INEC deploys website technology for electorates, candidates – REC

     

  • 2019: We discovered names of 299 foreigners in Nigeria’s voters register – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday said it discovered and removed 299 “aliens” from Nigeria’s voter register.

    The chairman of the commission, Mahmoud Yakubu, stated this on Friday at the quarterly consultative meeting of the commission with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

    A copy of the chairman’s speech at the meeting was made available to newsmen after the meeting.

    “I am happy to report that the commission has been able to remove from the voter register the names of 299 aliens who registered on the false pretence that they were Nigerians.

    “This was done on the basis of the information received from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). Registering to vote and actual voting in an election are the exclusive rights of Nigerian citizens to which aliens are excluded by law.”

    The chairman said INEC would continue to deploy NIS personnel to registration centres to ensure that only Nigerians register to vote in elections.

    “Before we finalise the voter register for the 2019 General Elections, the commission will undertake a thorough clean-up of the existing register.

    “Under Section 12(1) of the Electoral Act, those who are below the statutory age of 18 years, aliens, persons registered in absentia, those barred by statute or regulations from registering as voters and persons who do not ordinarily reside, work or originate from the area covered by the registration are ineligible. We will continue to thoroughly scrutinise all prospective registrants in the ongoing exercise in order to ensure that only eligible registrants are registered.

    “We have agreed with the NIS that they will deploy their personnel to the registration centres nationwide to ensure that only Nigerians register to vote in our election. We shall continue to work in partnership to ensure that our voter register is purged of ineligible registrants as enshrined in the Electoral Act.”

    The chairman thanked security agencies in the country for their “consistent support in helping to secure the environment for the conduct of elections in a peaceful atmosphere.”

    Mr. Yakubu assured that INEC would make public, copies of the rules of engagement for security agencies as part of voter education and sensitisation.

    He said Friday’s consultative meeting signalled that the active political season has arrived in the country.

    “Today’s meeting is coming exactly 350 days to the commencement of the 2019 General Elections, 133 days to the Ekiti State Governorship Election holding on 14th July 2018 and 203 days to the Osun State Governorship Election holding on 22nd September.

    “We are already in the active period of preparations for the elections. I wish to reassure the electorate that INEC and the security agencies will continue to work in line with the rules of engagement that guarantee full rights of citizens during electioneering campaigns and actual voting on election day in a professional, non-partisan manner consistent with the provisions of the law.

    “As we are all aware, INEC has embarked upon the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise. For the Commission, this is the most important preparatory exercise before the General Elections. We are aware of the challenges faced by citizens in some centres and we have been responding within the limits of available resources.

    “We wish to reassure all eligible registrants that no one will be left out. Furthermore, we wish to assure all those who registered in 2017 that their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will be available for collection in the first week of May 2018 i.e. in the next two months. For those who register in 2018, their PVCs will be made available to them before the 2019 General Elections.”

  • LG Elections: No evidence of underage voting in Kano – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fact finding team on alleged underage voting in the last Kano council poll said it has not received any evidence of underage voting.

    The Chairman of the committee, Abubakar Nahuce, told journalists on Friday that from their interaction with civil society organisations and media, none presented evidence of underage voting.

    INEC set up the committee following public outcry that greeted videos and photos of underage voting believed to be during the Kano election.

    “From all what we have seen and discussed with you media men, none of you has seen any underage voter in the line or voting,” Mr. Nahuce said on Friday.

    The team has so far met with Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) Chairman, the media and other relevant bodies.

     

    Details later…

  • Military will not be involved in 2019 election – INEC boss

    Military will not be involved in 2019 election – INEC boss

    The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the military will not be involved in election duties in 2019.

    The INEC boss said this in an interview with a monthly magazine, The Interview.

    Yakubu said the police would be the lead agency while the military would ‘form the outer core.’

    He said, “The lead agency in election security is the Nigeria Police. But the Nigeria Police is also empowered where it deems it necessary a call on the support of other security agencies. So, we are operating on a concentric cycle sort of mechanism.

    “We have the inner core around the polling units, where you have unarmed policemen. You have the central ring where you have armed policemen that can be called in to assist in the polling units when the need arises.

    “And then you have the military in the outer cordon. I think that has been the mechanism that has worked. I have had no problem with that and will retain that. But the military will never be involved in election duty similar to what happened in elections before 2015.”

    Yakubu also said that the commission could not hold the continuous voter registration at the polling unit levels because it would cost N1.2bn per day, the total amount approved for the entire exercise.

    He regretted that N1.2bn was what was approved for INEC in the 2017 Budget for the entire exercise for a year.

    He explained that due to financial constraints, the commission decided to move the registration of voters to the local government level, which slowed down the process of registration and caused queues at the centres nationwide.

    Yakubu said, “At what level can we best register citizens? We said the polling units because these are the closest points to the voters. They are literally at the doorsteps of citizens. With 120,000 polling units nationwide and on the basis of the four officials we deploy to each registration centre, we came to the conclusion that we required 620, 000 ad hoc workers.

    “Can we engage 620, 000 ad hoc workers all year round? Assuming that each one of them is paid N1, 500 for transportation and feeding, that will cost the nation N1.2bn everyday in ad hoc workers’ allowances alone. By the time you add cost of the Direct Data Capture machines, your security, the generators and the fuelling and servicing of the generators, the consumables from ink to paper, the cost for the take-off of the exercise came to N131bn.”

    Yakubu said when the registration was brought to the local government level, many people complained about the pace of registration.

    Yakubu also attributed the rush at the registration centres partly to the rumour on the social media that INEC would soon suspend registration.