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Tag: INEC

  • Senate agrees with House on reordered sequence of 2019 General Elections

    The Nigerian Senate has agreed with the House of Representatives committees on electoral matters on the amended sequence of 2019 General Elections.

    TheNewsGuru reports the House had amended the Electoral Act to reorder the 2019 general elections after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had released time-table for the elections.

    The amendment was made at the Committee of the whole House, presided by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Yussuff Lasun.

    The lawmakers amended the Act while considering the report of the House Committee on Electoral Matters which proposed amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    In the time-table released by INEC, Presidential and National Assembly elections were to hold first, while governorship and state assembly would follow.

    The House amended section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

    According to the section, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly election (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections (c) Presidential election.

    Both chambers of the National Assembly agreed to the reordered sequence at a conference committee meeting on amendment of the 2010 electoral act chaired by Senator Suleiman Nazif and Honourable Edward Pwajok which held immediately after Tuesday’s plenary.

    The amendment will allow the 2019 general elections to begin first with National Assembly, followed by Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections with the presidential election coming last.

     

  • 2019: Nigeria gets €26.5m EU grant for electoral process

    2019: Nigeria gets €26.5m EU grant for electoral process

    The European Union on Thursday in Abuja re-affirmed its commitment to Nigeria’s electoral process with a €26.5m grant.

    The EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Ketil KarLsen, made the disclosure at the launch of the EU Support Programme to Democratic Governance in Nigeria.

    Karsen said the electoral process, which would be funded over a period of five years, was aimed at promoting transparent, inclusive and credible elections.

    “The overall objective of the EU-SDGN is to contribute to the reinforcement of democracy in Nigeria through building strong, effective and legitimate democratic institutions.

    “Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Nigeria is at a pivotal moment that allows the country to take important steps to consolidate democracy and strengthen the electoral process.

    “The EU continues to partner with Nigeria in the on-going reform process, with a view to strengthening the capacity to conduct well-managed elections with ample participation of all Nigerians.

    “For this to happen, all must contribute, from the key institutions to the political parties, candidates, media and civil society.’’

    KarLsen said the project would be anchored in the priority areas identified by the Nigerian government.

    He said it would also build on the recommendations of the EU Election Observation Mission, made after the 2015 elections as well as those of the EU Expert Identification Formulation Mission to Nigeria.

    He said that the programme would focus on five areas of support, including improved quality of electoral administration in Nigeria and effective discharge of legislative function in compliance with democratic principles and standards.

    The envoy identified other areas as enhanced pluralism, tolerance, internal democracy and equality of opportunity of political parties and fair, accurate and ethical coverage of the electoral process by the media.

    He said the other areas are women, youths and marginalised citizens, civil society orgainisations and other relevant agencies contributing to the enhancement of the electoral process.

    Vice-President of the European Centre for Electoral Support, Mr. Jose Pinto-teixeira, said that the programme would be implemented from 2017 to 2022.

    “Our work revolves around building on the already notable resources and tools developed to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process in Nigeria.

    “This programme is being launched, ahead of the 2019 elections knowing that for many stakeholders, including the electoral management bodies in Nigeria, elections are regular and continuous events given the many by-elections that have been taking place so far.’’

    Pinto-teixeira said that the programme had five inter-connected components, comprising support to INEC, National Assembly, political parties, CSOs and the media.

    The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the inauguration of the programme was another demonstration of the EU’s commitment to the promotion of the rule of law, good governance and democracy in Nigeria.

    Yakubu said that for the 2019 elections, INEC would be conducting elections in 1,558 constituencies nationwide made up of one presidential constituency, 29 governorship constituencies, 109 senatorial districts, 360 federal constituencies and 991 state constituencies.

    He said that INEC had registered 74 million voters so far.

    The INEC chief said that Nigeria had 68 political parties with about 100 new applications awaiting registration with a proposal from the National Assembly on independent candidacy.

    Mr Samson Itodo, the Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, said the gap identified in 2015 was that youths were not given support to contest.

  • APC, INEC may rig 2019 elections – PDP

    The major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of having secret plans to rig the 2019 general elections.

    The National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus said this in Abuja on Wednesday while hosting a United Nations delegation which paid a courtesy visit to the party’s national secretariat.

    Prior this, the APC received a United Kingdom government delegation led by the Head of West Africa Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO, in London, Rob Dixon on Monday evening which also dwelt on the forthcoming 2019 polls.

    Addressing the delegation, the party chairman said the conduct of elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, since the Buhari-led administration came on board has shown that the 2019 polls might not be credible.

    Mr. Secondus alleged that since the ruling party was usually bent on winning all elections, that is an indication that the commission is not ready to do the biddings of the electorate but the government.

    “We were in power as a party for 16 years to be precise, we deepened democracy with our actions. In the last general elections of 2015, we lost and conceded defeat, without attempting to go to court.

    “It is the first time that a party and its candidate would decide not to contest the outcome of an election in this country. It has never happened in this country. We did not go to court and our candidate did not go to court as well. We realised and decided that the outcome was democracy in action and that it was the will of the people.

    “But we have fears today that since the APC came to power, all the elections we have conducted came with huge question marks.”

    Mr. Secondus also accused INEC of performing below the expectations of Nigerians in the past couple of years.

    “As a matter of fact, this (INEC) is the only electoral body that has conducted elections several times and they (government) will call for a rerun when it is not in their favour. I, therefore, want the delegation to look seriously in the area of free and fair elections that guarantee security.”

    The leader of the UN delegation, Serge Kubwimana said his team was in the country on a need assessment mission.

    He said they would take different views from political institutions in the country to determine areas of possible assistance to INEC as 2019 approaches.

    “This mission has been deployed from the UN headquarters in New York City. It is a mission that has been deployed in response to request on electoral system from the chairperson of INEC.

    “And the way we do it in the UN, in order to determine the areas of support, we conduct this type of mission and the overall context in which the election is taking place — the political violence, security and the like, the legal framework, the capacity and the needs of the electoral management body.

    “This is really what this mission is here for and our assessment cannot be done without interacting with the main stakeholders — obviously INEC, Civil Society Organisations, political parties and some of the key institutions: the judiciary, the National Assembly and many others…”

    Mr. Kubwimana said the UN respects the sovereignty of the country and is only interested in free, fair and credible elections.

  • 2019: INEC to announce results electronically

    2019: INEC to announce results electronically

    Independent National Electoral Commission says apart from giving physical copies of results of the 2019 elections to party agents, it will also be announcing the results electronically.

    INEC, therefore, called on telecoms service providers to assist the commission.

    The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this when he visited the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, in Abuja on Tuesday.

    He said the same mechanism would be used in the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections in July and September, respectively.

    Yakubu said, “We are planning for full deployment (of electronic and manual transmission) this year in governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun. Thereafter we intend to deploy the system in the 2019 general elections.

    “INEC has developed the hardware and software. However, we rely on the operators for the transmission of both the figures and scanned images of result sheets. We wish to assure Nigerians that while we transmit the raw figures from polling units, scanned images of the result sheets will also be transmitted electronically in addition to physical copies given to party agents at polling units.”

    Yakubu appealed to the NCC as the regulator to facilitate a meeting between INEC and the telecommunications operators with the aim of assisting the electoral body in the conduct of the election.

    The INEC boss added, “Similarly, we would like the NCC to facilitate discussions with operators on ways of enhancing their corporate social responsibility to Nigeria’s electoral process. An immediate area of interest to INEC is how the operators can help in voter education and publicity.

    “Towards the 2019 general elections, we would like the operators in collaboration with INEC, to send bulk SMS and possibly voice messages as well on the imperative of peaceful elections, the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by registered voters and directional information on the location of polling units for easy access to voters.”

    In his response, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC said his agency would try to help the electoral body to ensure that the 2019 elections are free, fair and credible.

    Dabatta said the NCC would try to improve the security of the communications system before the 2019 election so that it would be effective for the dissemination of election results.

  • Political parties too many, may cause problems in 2019 –INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission says the growing number of political parties may pose challenges for the commission in the 2019 general elections.

    The Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, said this in Abuja on Monday at a retreat organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

    While delivering a keynote address at the event, which was titled, ‘The Dynamics of Managing Political Parties Professionally,’ Eyinla said so far, 68 political parties had been registered.

    Eyinla, who represented INEC, said with over 100 political associations seeking registration, the number might increase before the elections which could cause logistical problems, including the production of ballot papers.

    The INEC official said if 68 parties participated in the elections, it could also mean that a total of 68 party agents would be at each polling unit, which could cause the elections to be rowdy.

    “Currently there are 68 registered political parties in Nigeria. As of today, there are more than 100 associations that have applied to INEC to register as political parties. This raises a number of questions which we want this retreat to address,” he said.

    Eyinla further stated that he did not know whether INEC would be able to monitor the congresses, conventions and primaries of all parties contesting over 1,000 elective positions each across the nation.

    He added, “We are also going to be challenged if these 68 political parties and counting continue this way. We are just a commission. I cannot begin to imagine even as the technical adviser, how we will divide ourselves to monitor party conventions and primaries of 68 political parties across the length and breadth of this country.

    “Already we have envisaged some of these challenges and we are coming up with strategies to deal with them in our election project plan.

    “Ancillary to this is the fact that political party agents will also increase. I can imagine 68 political party agents in a polling unit. I think these are issues that we have to manage; but most importantly, how do we manage the ballot for 68 political parties?”

    Eyinla said if any registered political party is mistakenly omitted from the ballot paper, it could lead to the total cancellation of the exercise.

    The INEC official said, “I think perhaps one of the largest ballots that I have seen is that of Afghanistan where the ballot paper is nearly the size of a prayer mat.

    “Given our level of literacy, I think that is going to be a major challenge and as we know, the question of exclusion is a major issue in the electoral process.

    “The chairman was literally sleeping and waking with the ballot for Anambra State election to ensure that no party was excluded; to ensure that the names and logo of the parties were correct because any slip could nullify the election. So, I think there is a challenge with managing the ballot that will come with the increasing number of political parties.”

    The INEC official called on the National Assembly to make necessary changes to the electoral legal framework before July, saying doing so less than six months to the elections would be in contravention of ECOWAS protocol on democracy.

    In his address, however, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said the multiplicity of political parties was good for democracy.

    Saraki, who was represented by Senator Abdullahi Sabi, called on political parties to ensure that neglected groups, including women and persons living with disabilities, were integrated into party structures.

    In his remarks, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said there was a need for parties to have ideologies as this would strengthen democracy and engender good governance.

  • INEC debunks rumours of Jan. 31 deadline for CVR

    INEC debunks rumours of Jan. 31 deadline for CVR

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked the rumour that ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) would end on Jan. 31, 2018.

    Head of Publicity of the commission in Lagos State, Mr Femi Akinbiyi, said in a statement on Friday “it has come to the notice of the Commission in Lagos State the rumours going round that the CVR would end on Jan. 31, 2018.

    “We, therefore, wish to inform the people that the Continuous Voter Registration is still on.

    “In line with the provision of section 9 (5) of the Electoral Act (as amended), Continuous Voter Registration will be temporarily suspended 60 days to the commencement of the General Elections scheduled for February, 2019”.

    According to him, all eligible voters in the state, who has not registered before are encouraged to register at all INEC offices in the 20 local government areas in the state.

    Akinbiyi said that concerned residents could also go to other officially designated areas within the state between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. from Monday to Friday every week, excluding public holidays, for registration.

    “In response to the citizens’ plea to have centres closer to their domain, the Commission in the State has rotation plan for some Registration Centres within the Registration Areas (Ward) in each of the local government areas.

    “Also, the names of those who registered in the first and second quarters have been uploaded in the Commission’s website.’’
    Meanwhile, Akinbiyi told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the rumour had made eligible persons to besiege registration centres daily, to register.

  • 2019: ` Don’t campaign under guise of voter education’- INEC warns politicians

    2019: ` Don’t campaign under guise of voter education’- INEC warns politicians

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged politicians in the country not to take advantage of the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to campaign.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Mr. Emeka Ononamadu, gave the caution in Enugu on Thursday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    “The government should play by the rules. You do not campaign under the guise of mobilisation when INEC has not lifted the ban on campaign.

    “Government should continue to work towards realizing free, credible and transparent election and no one should position or look for undue advantage,” Ononamadu said.

    The REC said that the government also had a role to play in order to guarantee credible polls, adding that they needed to play by the rules when mobilising the electorate for the CVR.

    Ononamadu stressed the need for the electorate in the state to take the exercise more seriously.

    He said that the exercise had provided an ample opportunity for residents of the state to take their destinies into their hands.

    “The CVR is catching up well in Enugu State but we need to do better. People have started coming up in their numbers since the beginning of this year.

    “I think Enugu people will need to buckle up. This is an ample opportunity that has been provided to citizens by INEC as required by law,” he said.

    The REC said that the commission had been sensitizing the electorates on the need to register in order to perform their civic responsibilities.

    According to him, we used the yuletide to reach out to people in rural areas as well as in churches.

    Ononamadu noted that people were beginning to have a renewed confidence in the electoral umpire due to its excellent conducts in recent outings.

    He said that the exercise had been violent free in the state, adding that it was continuous and would stop 60 days before any general election according to the law.

    “When we started people were not too sure whether it was going to work or not but today they have seen that INEC is serious in terms of implementing its entire statutory mandate,” he said.

    Ononamadu, however, said that it was sad that people were still suspecting whether or not their vote would count.

    “I wonder what gave them that illusion because INEC had demonstrated in strong terms and statements that we are here to protect the mandate of Nigerians and that is what we shall do,” he said.

    He said that the commission had intensified efforts to sensitise residents of the state with a view to either registering or picking up their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    He said that the state had 1.6 million voting strength based on the ongoing registration, adding that about 127, 000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) had yet to be collected.

  • 2019: Details of new Electoral Act emerge as Reps change order of elections

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday amended the Electoral Act to change the order of 2019 general elections’ time table.

    This came barely a month after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the time-table for the general elections.

    With the amendment, the National Assembly election is to hold first, followed by gubernatorial and state assembly polls and presidential election to be conducted last.

    The amendment was made at the Committee of the whole House, presided by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Yussuff Lasun.

    The lawmakers amended the Act while considering the report of the House Committee on Electoral Matters which proposed amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

    In the time-table released by INEC, Presidential and National Assembly elections were to hold first, while governorship and state assembly would follow.

    The House amended section 25 of the Principal Act and substituted it with a new section 25 (1).

    According to the section, the elections shall be held in the following order: (a) National Assembly election (b) State Houses of Assembly and Governorship elections (c) Presidential election.

    Similarly, section 87 was amended by adding a new section 87 (11) with a marginal note “time for primaries of political parties”.

    “The primaries of political parties shall follow the following sequence (i) State House of Assembly (ii) National Assembly (iii) Governorship, and (iv), President.

    “The dates for the above stated primaries shall not be held earlier than 120 days and not later than 90 days before the date of elections to the offices.”

    The House also amended section 36 to allow running mate of candidate that dies before the conclusion of elections inherit his votes and continue with the process.

    Section 35 which states that if before an election a candidate dies, he will be replaced by the next contestant with the highest vote was also amended.

    The amendment indicated that if a nominated candidate died in the election process, the next person from the same political party with the second highest votes in the primary election should replace the deceased.

    It stated that the name of the new person should be submitted to INEC, which should accept such replacement as if the deceased was alive.

    The House also made an increment in the limitation of election expenses to be incurred by candidates for presidential candidates from N1 billion to N5 billion.

    It raised the governorship bill from N200 million to N1 billion, while Senatorial and Representatives candidates’ expenses are not to exceed N100 million and N70 million, respectively.

    For State Assembly and local government chairmanship elections, candidates’ expenses had been raised from N10 million to N30 million while councillorship candidates ceiling was raised from N1 million to N5 million.

    Similarly, individual contribution had been jerked up from N1 million to N10 million.

     

  • 2019: INEC seeks UN support to conduct credible elections

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has sought the cooperation of the United Nations, UN, to conduct a peaceful, and credible election in 2019.

    The chairman of the commission, Mahmood Yakubu said this on Monday during a meeting with the United Nations Team led by the representative of the Secretary General, Needs Assessment Mission on the 2019 General Election, Sergi Kubwimana.

    He said INEC needed support in aspects like technology, capacity building for staff, voter education and sensitisation and the electoral process as the 2019 election is fast approaching.

    The commission also said UN support would be needed to also help political parties in electoral conflict mitigation, inclusiveness, especially of women, youth and persons with disabilities.

    Mr. Yakubu noted how over the years, the UN had provided great support to INEC while trying to introduce and sustain reforms of the electoral system in Nigeria.

    He assured the UN of the commission’s commitment to conducting free and fair election.

    While enlightening his guest on the development so far in the electoral process, he said INEC has registered over 74 million voters, and promised that the number will rise.

    He also said the number of registered political parties now is 68 and the commission is processing over 90 fresh applications seeking registration as political parties.

    He also informed the visiting UN officials that there are 119,973 polling units, 8,809 electoral wards and 1,553 constituencies for which elections will be conducted in 2019.

    The INEC chairman told the UN delegation that in past elections, the commission had deliberately and purposefully embarked upon far-reaching reforms of the electoral system in terms of operational procedures.

    He listed the reforms as changes in voting procedures, enhancing the physical security; on the ballot papers, ballot boxes and result sheets, the reorganisation of the commission’s administrative structures, capacity building and professionalisation for the staff; instituting the long term planning processes; introduction of technology such as biometric registration and authentication process (permanent voters’ cards and smart card readers), collation and results management as well as the trafficking and monitoring of electoral activities.

    Meanwhile, Mr. Kubwimana said the UN would look at “the overall context, political context, social economic context and human rights context.”

    He also said in conducting the needs assessments, the UN would work with relevant persons and bodies including the security, political parties, civil society organisation, including women organisations and the People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs).

    “Women organisations are also an important aspect of our collaboration to see how we can increase representation of women in politics and also increase number of voters. Security is also important in any given contest,’’ he said.

  • 20,000 PVCs unclaimed in Delta – INEC

    20,000 PVCs unclaimed in Delta – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said 20,000 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected by registered voters in Delta.

    Administrative Secretary of the commission in the state, Mrs Rose Orianran-Anthony, made this known when she visited the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, Emmanuel Sideso, in his palace in Effurun.

    Orianran-Anthony expressed dismay that the PVCs lay at INEC office, with no effort by the voters to collect them.

    She said that the commission did not have an office in the local government are which exposed its staff and materials to violence during elections.

    The administrative secretary, therefore, appealed to the monarch to provide the commission with a piece of land for the building of an office.

    She also appealed to the monarch to encourage registered voters among his subjects to go and collect their voter cards.

    Receiving the INEC scribe, Sideso appealed to the commission to provide a centre in the area for collection of PVCs.

    Sideso regretted a situation where registered voters spent long hours to collect the PVCs, describing the situation as “frustrating’’.

    He promised to look into the issue of land and other facilities for the commission to enhance its job.