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Tag: Inec

  • Sack Amina Zakari from INEC, PDP tells NASS

    The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organization (PPCO) yesterday charged  the National Assembly to immediately commence the process of removing  Mrs Amina Zakari from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Zakari was on Thursday named the chairman of the Presidential Election Collation Centre Committee for the 2019 election, a development the main opposition party vehemently rejected.

    Spokesman for the PDP Campaign Organisation, Kola Ologbondiyan, told reporters in Abuja that the National Assembly should step in to save the nation from imminent political crisis.

    Ologbondiyan said the party’s position  is predicated on the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is an uncle to Mrs Zakari.

    The Presidency has dismissed the claim as a lie.

    The PDP added that the Buhari presidency has been using Amina Zakari to bear pressure on INEC even to the extent of brazenly foisting her as the collation officer for the presidential election, to enable President Buhari announce himself as winner.

    Ologbondiyan further said, “The PPCO holds that a credible electoral commission must be completely impartial, transparent, totally independent and immune from external control by interested entities. These are qualities INEC can no longer lay claim to as long as Amina Zakari remains a member of the commission.

    “By foisting Mrs. Amina Zakari to lead the final process of the election, President Buhari is seeking a way to annex INEC, practically, take over the collation of results, and announce himself the winner.

    “This is a clear invitation to anarchy and a huge political crisis capable of derailing our democracy because Nigerians, across the board, are already in vehement rejection of this self-succession plot and are now, more than ever before, ready to use every necessary means available and accessible to them in a democracy to protect our democratic process”.

    The main opposition party said as long as Amina Zakari remained in INEC, the commission cannot be trusted.

    “It will interest Nigerians to know that following public outcry against her nomination, Amina Zakari’s agents, last night, surreptitiously attempted to compromise the media by sending secret messages to emails of editors with the view to watering down and swaying the direction of information on her provocative appointment to lead the collation of presidential election results.

    “Also, we have been informed of how Mrs. Zakari led other top INEC officials to a secret meeting with some top officials of the Buhari Campaign Organization (BCO) in Abuja on ways to introduce the controversial Incidence Form under a new name and use such to manipulate the collation of results.

    “We therefore urge Nigerians and lovers of democracy all over the world to unite in condemning this scheme by the Buhari presidency to use Amina Zakari to enmesh our election into unnecessary controversy and trigger a political crisis in our country, just because they have realised that President Buhari cannot win the presidential election.

    “President Buhari and Amina Zakari should know that Nigerians have made up their minds in rallying behind our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, as their next president and no amount of machination, shenanigans and scheming will stop this resolve.

    It added that the Buhari presidency will never have its way in rigging the coming elections through a self-succession strategy, vowing that the PDP would insist that votes must count and that only the will of Nigerians, as expressed at the ballot will prevail.

  • 396 pre-election cases may stymie Vote 2019

    ABOUT 42 days to the general election, there are still a lot of pre-election matters before the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court with glaring implications for  the umpire (INEC), the parties and candidates. Many candidates in  Adamawa,  Zamfara, Rivers, Ogun,  Kwara, Imo and others do not know their fate. According to records obtained from INEC, there are 396 court actions arising from the primaries conducted by political parties. The figure is higher than 200 matters in court before the 2015 poll. A source in INEC said: “All the things we have criticized about general elections manifested during the primaries.”

    The big question is: Will the court be able to resolve all pre-election matters on or before February 16? Will candidates still win elective offices through the backdoor this time around?  Nigerians look forward to the Judiciary to save the electoral process and restore sanity.

  • INEC: we won’t drop Zakari as collation centre chair

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday declared that it would not drop Hajiya Amina Zakari as chairperson of the 2019 Elections Results Collation Committee.

    It said that contrary to fears in some quarters, Mrs, Zakari, who is alleged to be a niece to the President, will have nothing to do with the collation of the presidential poll results.

    It said by law, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu is the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Returning Officer for the Presidential Election.

    Yakubu, according to the commission, cannot and will not delegate his responsibility as the Returning Officer to anyone no matter the circumstance.

    The position of INEC was made known by its Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi in an interview  with our correspondent.

    “We cannot and we won’t drop Amina Zakari as the chairperson of the Collation Centre Management Committee.

    “She is only in charge of a committee to prepare the facility for the collation of results,” Osaze-Uzzi said.

    “She was also very involved in negotiating with the ICC management in 2015 for the use of the facility so her duty is to ensure the facility is ready.

    “She has no role whatsoever with the process of collation of results.

    “The job of the chairperson and other members is to make sure that the centre is conducive with internet access for INEC officials, representatives of political parties, international and local observers.

    “The committee has nothing to do with the process of compiling results.

    “They are just blowing the scope of the committee out of proportion. It’s a needless controversy; not an issue at all.”

    Responding to a question, Osaze-Uzzi said: “By law, the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu will superintend over the collation of results. He cannot assign the responsibility and he has not assigned the responsibility to anybody.

    “He is going to be in charge of collation of results.  It is he who decides the validity of votes and any issues in the election as the Returning Officer.

    “INEC wants to reassure Nigerians that its chairman as the Chief Electoral Officers will be assisted by trusted Nigerians who he will appoint as collation officers in all the states.”

     

  • Presidency: Zakari, not Buhari’s blood relation

    Reacting to allegations by the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Presidency on Friday said that the party is clutching at straws.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, reads “In another mendacious press release, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued their baseless accusations regarding Hajiya Amina Zakari, a commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accusing her of partiality and casting doubts about her integrity as an electoral commissioner.

    “In their desperation, they forget that it was the PDP government that appointed her in the first place and they keep lying, as they have been caught doing on so many issues, by imputing a blood relationship between her and President Muhammadu Buhari.”

    He said that President Buhari and Commissioner Amina Zakari don’t share a family relationship.

    Read Also: Buhari: We’ve put a stop to pensioners’ dehumanization

    He said “An inter-marriage occurred in their extended families, so the imputation of blood relationship between the President and the electoral commissioner is a simple lie.

    “What is even more curious about all the fuss coming from the PDP is that they, as a ruling party picked Mrs Zakari, judging her by her own merit and made her an electoral commissioner.

    “She served so well with distinction as can be verified from the records that President Buhari approved the recommendation that she be reappointed, as he did other PDP nominees for second-term of four years.

    “PDP, therefore, has no moral right to keep harassing this hardworking mother unless they have a hidden agenda.

    “By this statement, the PDP is guilty of scoring an own goal and two, of harassing an innocent citizen on the basis of a lie, pure and simple.” he stated

  • 2019: Religious leaders pledge support to INEC

    Religious leaders in Gombe state on Wednesday, pledged to support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) toward ensuring free, fair, credible and peaceful general elections in state.

    The religious leaders gave the pledge during an interactive session with INEC on the conduct of the scheduled general elections.

    Rev. Bullama Samuel, Secretary Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said as religious leaders, they had to go back to churches and mosques to continue sensitising their followers for successful and peaceful general elections.

    He commended INEC for the job well done on the level of preparation for the forthcoming exercise in the state and assured that they would key in, especially in encouraging voters to collect their Permanent Voter Cards.(PVCs).

    Samuel called on the security agencies to do more in checking instances that might result to crisis during election and the consequences on worship places.

    Read Also:Gunmen kill Pastor in Onitsha church

     

    Alhaji Muhammad Pindiga, Assistant Secretary,  Jamatul Nasril Islam (JNI) Gombe state assured that the faith body would continue to sensitise its followers, at all levels, for INEC to achieve its objectives.

    He commended INEC for introducing special consideration for the elderly, pregnant women and persons with disabilities during the election period.

    Pindiga said the election would be conducted peacefully,  going by the effort of INEC and all stakeholders in the state.

    Alhaji Umar Ibrhim, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, said the interactive session was to solicit support of the religious leaders for the success of the general elections.

    He called on them to preach to their followers on the dangers of vote buying and violence during election.

    The REC said that vote buying was not good for the development of democracy, hence the need for religious leaders to understand and preach same to their followers.

    According to him, selling votes is selling the future of the family, community, states and the country at large.

    He said those that bought votes and won elections might not come back to contribute to the development of their people until after four years.

    Ibrahim, commended religious leaders for their contribution to the commission and called on them to continue, adding that INEC could not do it alone.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commission, earlier in the morning, held similar exercise with traditional rulers in  the state

     

     

  • INEC registers 1.4 million voters in Kwara

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says it has registered a total of 1, 407, 335 voters in Kwara ahead of the 2019 general election.

    INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Malam Garba Madami made this known on Wednesday in Ilorin in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said a total of 1, 303, 870 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been collected by their owners, leaving less than 100, 000 PVCs yet to be collected.

    Madami expressed satisfaction wih the level of collection of the PVCs, expressing optimism that before the election, all the remaining PVCs would have been collected by their owners.

    “I am very happy and glad with the PVCs collection, before December, we had over 300, 000 uncollected, but we have less than 100, 000 now.

    “I am very confident that before first week of February, every registered person in the state will have collected his or her PVC,” the REC added.

    Read Also:We sold obsolete materials, not ballot papers – INEC

    Madami added that INEC was ready and prepared for the 2019 general election, adding that it had inaugurated five committees for the smooth prosecution of the election in the state.

    “I thank God that INEC has released fund to the state very early, so we don’t have any excuse not to be well prepared for the election.

    “All that is required of us is to strategise to ensure that we conduct free, fair, credible and acceptable election.

    “There is going to be training sessions particularly on the use of Card Readers, so that we can achieve 99.9 per cent perfection in the use of the machine because the election is going to count,” he said.

    He warned politicians that no form of illegality or fraud would be allowed during the election.

    “I have said it over and over, 2019 election will be the best election ever organised in the country,” the REC added.

    Madami therefore appealed to politicians in the state to stop heating up the polity and stop inciting the people.

    “The people should be wiser because politicians, anything they say, we should question and verify what they say because some of them are just heating up the polity,” he said.

    Madami also advised voters to be peaceful when voting and eschew violence during the election.

  • 2019: Avoid extreme politics – Umahi

    The Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi has called on Nigerians to be more positive about Nigeria and avoid extreme politics as the country gets ready for the 2019 general elections.

    Governor Umahi in his New Year message, signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Emmanuel Uzor acknowledged that the country went through turbulent times in the year 2018 resulting in almost a near doubt about Nigeria and called for a newed belief in the country.

    Read Also: Umahi presents N188.4b budget

    Umahi maintained that even as Nigerians approach the polls to elect their leaders in the new year, one thing should be paramount to approach every election with every sense of brotherliness as elections are not wars and called for abolition of extreme politics among every political parties participating in the election.

    The Governor further charged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and security agencies to renew their image by not only being independent and neutral but be seen to be independent and neutral in the coming general election.

    He noted that the peace and unity of Nigeria in 2019 will be determined by the conduct of the 2019 general elections.

     

  • Community chief advises INEC on PVCs

    The Chairman, Harmony Community Development Association (CDA), Sabo, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Mr. Adekunle Olokode, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collaborate with CDAs and other groups to ensure collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend at the end-of-the-year party of the CDA that many registered voters had not been given their PVCs at the designated places by INEC.

    NAN reports that it has been in the news lately that many PVCs are at designated places for collection across the states.

    For instance, it has been reported that 688, 972 PVCs were yet to be collected by the owners in Kano State.

  • 2019: We need adequate security to conduct successful election, says INEC

    IT will be difficult to have peaceful and successful elections without adequate security, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said.

    INEC National Commissioner Dr. Mustapha Lecky stated this while representing the commission’s chairman and chairman of the Board of The Electoral Institute (TEI), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at electoral security training workshop organised by the institute for state training officers in Abuja.

    He insisted that security remains a major concern for a massive process like election, adding that for there to be peaceful and credible election, the country need a secured environment that will give the people pleasant experience.

    “Security always remains a concern for a massive process like the election which is coming up next year. Without adequate security, you won’t have a peaceful environment for people to exercise their franchise. So, security is sine-qua-non. It is very important. It underscores why we holds the workshop for our state trainers, who will go back and engage at different levels with Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and their teams to understand the terms of engagement.

    “For a peaceful and credible election, we need to secure environment for people to have a very happy and pleasant experience,” he said.

    Lecky, who admitted that there were challenges in a number of places, assured the country that the government is doing all possible to address the situation.

    He said: “We know there are challenges in a number of places across the country. We believe the government is doing whatever it can to ensure that it is addressed. INEC is not a security outfit. We can only work with the security agencies to ensure that the right thing is done. Nigeria is a very hopeful country. So, we believe that the atmosphere will be secured for credible elections come 2019.”

    The workshop, he said, was aimed at securing elections.

    Addressing the participants, the INEC National Commissioner said: “This is a very important aspect of our election because without a secure election, we will not have free, fair and credible exercise. Security plays a critical role in delivering secured election. The outcome of your performance in the cause of the training will have impact at the other levels.

    “The quality of the training and the quality of delivery will impact on the quality and understanding of security officers whom we call upon to secure our elections.

    “It is important that we have the right messages so that it can guide and refresh our security personnel on the conduct and behaviour require to secure our elections in this country. The commission is very pleased that you are here and has high expectation because of critical factor in achieving free and fair elections in 2019.  You role is very important.

    “You will go back and impart what you have learnt in our security agencies – be it the police, the army and all arms of security involved in elections – to ensure they have true clarity and understand of the rule of engagements to provide a very pleasant election experience for electorate.”

     

  • 2019: INEC reads riot act to staff

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has read the riot act to its regular and ad hoc staff for the 2019 general elections.

    Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Secretary to the Commission, Mrs. Rose Oriaran-Anthony, yesterday, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, warned that the commission will not tolerate any act of complicity from the staff.

    He said that all officials of the commission must remain neutral in the discharge of their duties and must also protect the sanctity of the process.

    He however turned down applications by some support groups of candidates contesting in elections, saying only neutral observers would be accredited.

    He further said that the guidelines for observer accreditation has also been revised.

    Oriaran-Anthony is the third Secretary to the commission and the second woman to be so appointed since the country returned to democracy in 1999.

    She has served the commission for 28 years, rising to the position of a director before her appointment as secretary.

    Speaking at the ceremony, Yakubu said attention will be paid to the conduct of INEC officials across all strata.

    He said: “As we approach the 2019 general elections, the commission will pay particular attention to the conduct of our own officials from the headquarters to the state and local government areas, including ad hoc staff engaged in election duties.

    “We will not tolerate the complicity of staff with political actors or their agents to subvert the electoral process.

    “All officials of the commission must remain neutral in the discharge of their duties and committed to protecting the sanctity of the process.”

    On the request of some support groups of candidates contesting elections to observe the elections, Yakubu said such request has no basis, saying that only neutral groups are allowed to be accredited as observers.

    He said: “Similarly, for the 2019 general elections, the commission has been inundated with applications from several groups within the country for accreditation to observe the elections, including support groups of candidates contesting the elections.

    “This is unacceptable to the commission. Observers are neutral groups interested only in the process and not agents of political parties, candidates or campaign organisations.

    “The purpose of accrediting observers for elections is a noble one intended to increase the transparency and openness of the process.”

    Pointing out the importance of observers, Yakubu noted that the reports of observers serve as useful feedback to the commission.

    He said: “The reports of observers also serve as a useful feedback mechanism for strengthening our process and procedures.

    “It is therefore counter-productive for such an important process to become an all-comer business.”

    Going forward, the commission, he said, “has revised the guidelines for accreditation of observers.”

    He therefore urged all interested organisations to apply to the commission.

    While welcoming the new Secretary to the commission on board, Yakubu noted that the commission has confidence in her and urged her to bring her vast experience to bear in discharging her new responsibility.

    In her response, Mrs. Oriaran-Anthony described her appointment as a call to duty and therefore assured the commission and the country that she will work with the staff to do the necessary things that will impact positively to the successful outcome of the 2019 general elections.