Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu who spoke at a press conference today, February 23, said he is hopeful that all vices will be dealt with. Yakubu also disclosed that all materials have been distributed to states, adding that the sensitive materials are currently being delivered to local government areas.

According to the INEC Chairman, non-sensitive materials were deployed two months ago. He reiterated that 240 polling units do not have voters, and also said that staff to be deployed for the elections have been trained.

During the briefing, Yakubu disclosed that 87 million Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) have so far been collected ahead of the upcoming general elections. The current voter register contains over 94 million voters.

Mahmood disclosed this at the emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), held at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Thursday May 27. 

He said preliminary assessment indicates that 1,105 ballot boxes, 694 voting cubicles, 429 electric generating sets and 13 utility vehicles (Toyota Hilux) were lost in the attacks.

The electoral commission boss said “In the last two years, the Commission has recorded a total of 41 incidents involving deliberate attacks on the Commission’s facilities. Nine of these incidents happened in 2019 and 21 cases in 2020. In the last four weeks, 11 offices of the Commission were either set ablaze or vandalised. Two of these incidents were caused by Boko Haram and bandit attacks while 10 resulted from thuggery during the election and post-election violence. However, the majority of the attacks (29 out of 41) were unrelated to election or electoral activities. In fact, 18 of them occurred during the EndSARS protests in October last year while 11 attacks were organised by ‘unknown gunmen’ and ‘hoodlums’. Although the Commission is assessing loss of materials during recent attacks, our preliminary assessment so far indicates that we lost 1,105 ballot boxes, 694 voting cubicles, 429 electric generating sets and 13 utility vehicles (Toyota Hilux). By working together with the security agencies, we can stop these attacks and the wanton destruction of critical electoral assets. These attacks, which initially appeared as isolated and occasional actions, have now become more frequent and systematic targeted at demobilising and dismantling critical electoral infrastructure in the country. This will not only undermine the Commission’s capacity to organise elections and other electoral activities but will also damage the nation’s electoral process and democracy. Indeed, these attacks on the Commission’s facilities should now be treated as a national security emergency.  In the next nine months, two major elections will be conducted. The Anambra State Governorship election is scheduled to hold on 6th November 2021 to be followed by the end-of-tenure elections for 68 Area Council constituencies in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) holding on 12th February 2022. These major elections will be followed by the Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections ahead of the 2023 General Election which is just 632 days away. In addition to elections, the Commission is also preparing for the resumption of the nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise on 28th June 2021 to enable Nigerians who have attained the age 18 years and those who did not register previously to do so. Similarly, registered voters who wish to change their voting locations and those who wish to correct their names and other details on their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) can do so. We plan to create 2,673 registration centres and deploy 5,346 officials for the exercise along with expensive voter enrollment machines. All these activities require security, thereby adding to the urgency and importance of this meeting.”

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu who made the announcement in Abuja on Thursday, April 1, said the commission will provide more details on the CVR exercise, particularly the innovations that will ensure a safe and stress-free experience for registrants.

Yakubu said “Effective from Monday 28th June 2021, the CVR exercise will commence nationwide and carried out continuously for over a year until the third quarter of 2022.  However, emphasis will initially be on Anambra State where more centres will be established in view of the governorship election already scheduled for Saturday, 6th November 2021. In order to complete preparations for the governorship election, the CVR exercise in the state will be temporarily suspended in August 2021. This will enable the commission to clean up the data for the state and print the PVCs (permanent voter cards) for registrants. As time goes on, the commission will provide more details on the CVR exercise, particularly the innovations that will ensure a safe and stress-free experience for registrants. In doing so, we will fully consult stakeholders. In fact, the first in the series of these consultations will take place after the Easter break.”

The national assembly joint panel made the recommendation to a technical committee which will work on the new electoral act proposed by the federal lawmakers, even though the constitution currently places the eligible age for voting at 18.

This came two weeks ago after some stakeholders made a similar recommendation. Kabiru Gaya, chairman of the Senate committee on INEC who spoke at the inauguration of the technical committee in Abuja said the recommendation is a unanimous decision by the joint panel.

Gaya said “The joint committee has proposed that if a lady who is not up to 18 years is married, she should be considered to be mature enough and be eligible to vote.”

However after INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said the issue of voting age is a constitutional matter and the law also recognises 18 as marriageable age, Aisha Dukku, chairperson of the house of representatives committee on INEC said the recommendation cannot be thrown out because it was suggested by stakeholders at the public hearing.

Dukku said “It is already in the electoral act amendments submitted in the last assembly, so it cannot be thrown away just like that.  We should look at it and come up with something instead of throwing it away. It is not from us but from the stakeholders on the day of the public hearing held in the 8th assembly.”

Yakubu disclosed this to the State House correspondents shortly after he took his oath of office for second term before  President Muhammadu Buhari at the commencement of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the commission would work with the National Assembly to ensure a speedy passage of the amendment to the nation’s Electoral Act in other to confront the challenges ahead.

The INEC chairman, however, pledged his administration will ensure that the conduct of elections continues to improve.

“We have clearly demonstrated in recent elections that elections are getting better and they will continue to get better.

“The National Assembly is holding a public hearing on the amendment of the electoral legal framework. This is important and this time around, working with the National Assembly, we will ensure a speedy passage of the amendment bill and once it is assented to, it will help us enormously in confronting the challenges ahead.

“Preparations for 2023 general elections have proceeded in earnest. We need certainty and therefore the electoral legal framework is fundamental, without which we cannot formulate our regulations and guidelines.

“Without our regulations and guidelines, we cannot conclude work on the manual for the training of ad-hoc staff for the elections. “So from here, I am going to proceed to the National Assembly, so work begins in earnest and we have already started,” he said.

The electoral commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu made the announcement during an inter-agency consultative committee on election meeting on Wednesday, June 17.

He said “All political parties interested in fielding candidates for the election are reminded that they must conclude their primaries for the nomination of candidates in the next ten days. The deadline is Saturday, 27th June 2020. I must stress that the date is firm and fixed. There will be no extension of the deadline. While the conduct of primaries and nomination of candidates will be the sole responsibility of political parties, our officials will monitor the primaries as required by law. Arising from our experience in managing the nomination of candidates for the last two governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states, it is important to draw the attention of political parties to the four mandatory requirements for eligibility of candidates for governorship elections enshrined in Section 177 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).  A candidate nominated by a political party must be a Nigerian citizen by birth; must have attained the age of thirty-five (35) years; must be a member of, and sponsored by, a political party; and must be educated up to at least school certificate level or equivalent. Adherence to these clear constitutional provisions is compulsory in order to avoid the unnecessary litigation that follows the nomination of candidates, some of which are still pending before the courts”.

Yakubu made this known during a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners in Abuja on Tuesday December 3, stating that they’ve worked closely with the police even though there is no time frame for the prosecution of electoral offenders.

He said “Over the years, we have worked closely with the Nigeria Police. Since 2015 we have received a total of 149 case files, including 16 cases arising from the 2019 general election. The cases are prosecuted in the states where the alleged offences were committed. Unlike pre-election and post-election cases, there is no timeframe for the prosecution of electoral offenders. A case may go on for several years. Some of the cases were dismissed for want of diligent prosecution while in some states, the attorneys-general entered nolle prosequi to get the alleged offenders off the hook. Even where the commission recorded the most successful prosecution of electoral offenders following the violence witnessed in a bye-election in Kano State in 2016, it is unclear how many of the 40 offenders sentenced to prison with the option of fine actually spent time in jail. The fine was paid presumably by their sponsors. That is why we believe that the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal will dispense justice dispassionately and speedily in the same way that the Electoral Court deals with violators in other countries such as South Africa.”

The upper chamber stated this on Wednesday, October 9, at a meeting with the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by its chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu (PDP Enugu West), said the number of political parties contesting the elections was a contravention of the amended Electoral Act. He said that by virtue of the Electoral Act, political parties, which failed to win a seat in the general elections should be deregistered.

On his part, chairman of the Senate committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC Kano South) said:“Those parties that didn’t perform shouldn’t be on the ballot. The existing electoral act as amended has precluded the participation of parties that didn’t perform in the last elections. We need to amend the act to reduce the political parties to a maximum of five. This committee is really committed to reducing the number of political parties to save taxpayers money.”