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  • How politicians ruined 2019 elections, by INEC chair, IGP, others

    Politicians and their agents are responsible for the large scale malpractices and widespread violence that marred the 2019 general elections.

    This was the submission of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu; Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba among other stakeholders.

    They spoke on Wednesday in Abuja at the Forum of Anti-corruption Situation Room organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).

    In a keynote address, Yakubu said vote buying and selling have become a source of great worry to the Commission, the Nigerian people and the international community.

    The INEC chair, who was represented by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, narrated how politicians and their agents devised various methods to compromise the electoral process.

    According to him, one of the methods employed by the politicians and their agents was to buy up Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) of registered voters in the political “safe haven” of their opponents before the day of election.

    He also accused them of compromising security agents and some ad hoc staff of INEC who looked the other way while votes were being bought and sold.

    Yakubu said some political money bags bought over agents of other political parties who compromised and betrayed their own political parties for money.

    Read Also: INEC fixes November 2 for Bayelsa, Kogi governorship polls

    The INEC chairman also cited situations where voters were made to surrender their PVCs to middlemen as a precondition for assessing government amenities and facilities in their localities.

    “Politicians compromised traditional and religious leaders and community leaders by persuading them to persuade voters in their domains to vote in a particular way.

    “In some instances, they persuaded willing ad hoc staff to abandon the use of Smart Card Readers and provision of social amenities close to Election Day,” Yakubu added.

    The INEC chief charged the various Election Petitions Tribunals to prosecute proven cases of electoral offences pending the establishment of a designated body for that purpose.

    Acting IGP Adamu said police personnel on election duty were constrained by the law, which prevented them from bearing firearms around voting areas.

    The IGP, who was represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Peter Ogunyanwo, said this made it impossible for police personnel on election duties to confront heavily armed political thugs who attacked voters and disrupted voting at polling centres in different parts of the country during the 2019 elections.

    He lamented politicians lacked patriotism, nationalism and the fear of God in their conduct during elections.

    He lamented politicians, who he described as beneficiaries of electoral malpractices, lacked the required will and patriotism to put in place the needed electoral reforms.

    According to him, measures prescribed by law to punish electoral offenders

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  • Judge withdraws from Okorocha’s certificate of return suit against INEC

    A judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Taiwo Taiwo has withdrawn from a suit filed by Imo Governor Rochas Okorocha with which he sought to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him with a certificate of return.

    INEC has failed to issue Okorocha a certificate of return weeks after declaring him winner of Imo West Senatorial District with the returning officer claiming to have acted under duress.

    The decision by Justice Taiwo to withdraw from the case was informed by allegation of bias raised against him by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the February 23 National Assembly election – Jones Onyeriri and Senator Osita Izunaso.

    Onyeriri wrote petition to the court’s Chief Judge, querying the judge’s neutrality while Izunaso filed a motion, asking the judge to disqualify himself from further hearing the case on grounds of likelihood of being bias.

    Justice Taiwo, while announcing his withdrawal on Wednesday, said he would return the case file to the court’s Chief Judge for re-assignment to a new judge.

    Onyeriri , in his petition, accused the judge of making utterances in which he “clearly prejudged the substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter and clearly showed he has taken sides with the plaintiff (Okorocha).”

    In an affidavit deposed to by a lawyer, Chijioke Nzekwe, on his behalf, Onyeriri claimed the judge told INEC’s lawyer, Wendy Kuku that the electoral body was responsible for the problems associated with the election.

    He added: “’The honourable judge went further to say that he has read through the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and found nothing therein that robs him of the jurisdiction to hear his suit.’

    Read Also: Igbo women chide INEC over Okorocha

    “This pronouncement shocked all the counsel who were present in court and even members of the public and press men, who were in the gallery because 2nd and 3rd defendant (INEC and Onyeriri) have notices of preliminary objection, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear this matter.”

    Izunaso, in his motion on notice dated April 8, 2019, asked for an order transferring the suit to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to any other judge of the court.

    In the motion, filed by his lawyer, Prince Orji Nwafor- Orizu, Isunso urged the judge to desist from further hearing the suit, on the grounds that “there is likelihood of bias on the part of this honourable court to continue to hear the suit as the honourable presiding Judge has expressed an opinion favourable to the plaintiff even without the hearing of the substantive suit.

    “The said utterances were made on April 5, 2019 which utterances clearly pre-judged the substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter and clearly showed that the Honourable presiding judge has taken sides with the plaintiff.”

  • AA gets nod to inspect Imo election materials

    The Governorship and House of Assembly Petitions Tribunal sitting in Owerri, Imo state has granted the Action Alliance (AA) leave to inspect election materials in connection to the conduct of the March 9 governorship election.

    The Panel granted the petitioners leave to also inspect “copy, photocopy and obtain Certified True Copies of all the electoral materials related to or in connection with the conduct of the Imo State governorship election held on 9th March, 2019, including but not limited to ballot papers, used and unused; the voters’ register used in the conduct of the election.

    Read Also: Imo governor-elect bans issuance of land titles, CofO

    “Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E, EC 17A, EC 25A, EC 25B, EC 40A, EC 40G, EC 40H; all the incident forms filed by voters in all the polling units in the election; the list of permanent voter cards collected and used in the election; all the card readers used in the election; data of accredited voters as captured by all the smart card readers deployed during the 9th March, 2019 governorship election conducted in all the polling units in Imo State, sorted out into Local Governments, Wards, Polling Units and voting points; record of ballot paper allocation to all the polling units in the election; the list of all presiding officers for all the units in the election”.

    Also to be inspected by the petitioners include “INEC manual and guidelines; the list of the polling agents submitted to INEC by all the political parties and every other electoral material used in the conduct of the election for the purpose of instituting, maintaining and prosecuting the petition and for the purpose of presenting same at the trial”.

  • INEC fixes November 2 for Bayelsa, Kogi governorship polls

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed November 2 for the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

    INEC’s National Commissioner in-charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said in a statement that the decision was taken at a meeting yesterday.

    According to the timetable and schedule of activities for the elections, parties are expected to produce their candidates between August 2 and 29.

    The commission also said that public campaigns by political parties will kick-off on August 2 and end on   October 31.

    The statement reads: “The Commission at its meeting held today (yesterday) approved the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the govemorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states which will hold on Saturday, 2nd November, 2019.

    “The official notice for both elections will be issued on 1st  August, 2019 while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from 2nd -29th August, 2019.

    “Campaigns by political parties in public shall commence on 2nd August, 2019 and end on 31st October, 2019.

    “The parties, sponsoririg candidates are required to submit the list of their agents not later than 2nd October, 2019.

    “The stated timelines are in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). All stakeholders are urged to take cognizance of and adhere strictly to them.”

    The commission also approved the conduct of an extensive review and debriefing on the 2019 general elections.

    These reviews and debriefing will take place between May and June.

    Okoye said in the statement: “The Commission met today (yesterday) and approved a proposal to conduct an extensive review and debriefing on the 20l9 general elections in line with its existing practice.

    “This is intended to evaluate the Commission’s performance of the key activities of the general elections with a view to addressing identified challenges and strengthening operational and institutional capacities to conduct free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.

    “The review will focus on the planning, organisation, conduct and coordination of the general elections, panicularly on the following: logistics, procurement and deployment of personnel and materials; continuous voter registration and collection of permanent voter cards; legal environment of the elections, particularly the legal challenges experienced over nomination of candidates and conduct of elections.

    Also to be reviewed are: processes of party registration,  party primaries and nomination of candidates; quality of ad hoc staff; relationship between the Commission and diverse stakeholders, including political parties, security agencies, civil society organisations, the media and development partners; and quality of inclusivity of the elections, particularly regarding persons with disability, lDPs and gender balance.

    “Two sets of activities are envisaged in the reviews as follows:  internal reviews, involving National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs); Electoral Officers, Collation and Returning Officers as well as other key staff of the Commission; review meetings with key stakeholders.

    The Commission, Okoye also revealed, has commenced work on a comprehensive report of the 2019 general elections and has mandated its Electoral Institute to undertake detailed researches into various aspects of the elections.

    “It is the Commission’s hope that the outcomes of these reviews and studies will feed into further electoral reforms and its preparations for handing and future elections,” Okoye said in the statement.

  • Igbo women chide INEC over Okorocha

    Women in Imo State under the aegis of ‘Assembly of Concerned Igbo Women Leaders of Thought in Nigeria and the Diaspora,’ has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release the Certificate  of Return to the winner of the Imo West senatorial election, Governor Rochas Okorocha, to avoid possible breakdown of law and order.

    The women advised the electoral umpire to stay away from partisan politics and adhere to the provisions of the constitution.

    The group also condemned what they described as the growing discrimination and resentment against the Southeast by the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

    They argued that the decision to exclude the Southeast from the sharing of leadership positions in the National Assembly, is a confirmation of a grand plot against the zone ahead the 2023 general  elections.

    Rising from their meeting in Owerri, the Convener of the Assembly,  Barrister Ijeoma Igboanusi, said that it was an act of ingratitude for the party to treat Okorocha that way after building the part from the scratch in the State.

    Igboanusi said,  “History remains our witness. Without Okorocha, the APC would have been another regional party struggling for relevance without a nationalistic appeal.

    Igboanusi described as despicable that the party could look the other way when the rights of one of their foremost founding fathers were being trampled upon.

    She said. “The women leaders of the South-east having patiently waited and keenly watched the dramatic turn around cum actions of the INEC in Imo west senatorial zone in withholding Okorocha’s certificate of return are poised to as,  what kind of democracy are we practicing in Nigeria!?

    The women also decried the position of the party in zoning the leadership of the National Assembly, and reminded the party that “The Igbo constitute a leg in the tripod stand of the party and security were since the president is from the North,  the vice president from the South-west, it is only fair and just that the Senate presidency or the speaker of the House of Representatives be zoned to the Igbo in the South-east.”

     

  • Ad hoc staff protesting over unpaid allowances may have banking problems – INEC

    The Lagos office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that ad hoc staff protesting over unpaid allowances may be having problems with their banks.

    Mr Femi Akinbiyi, its Public Relations Officer, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, in a reaction protest by some ad hoc staff over the non-payment of their allowances, several weeks after the general elections.

    “The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Lagos State, has been drawn to the report of some ad-hoc staff going round some media houses claiming that they have not been paid their allowances for the job they carried out during the general elections.

    “The commission wishes to state that it commenced payment of all ad-hoc staff engaged during the last general elections immediately after the conclusion of each election.

    “Most of those claiming they have not been paid are either among those whose account details are not correct, and their banks have sent the money paid into such accounts back to the commission, or those that are not engaged, but claim to have been engaged by INEC.

    “For instance, it is on our record that one Mr Samuel Nelson, who led the protest over non-payment of ad-hoc staff at Oshodi-Isolo Local Government office, has been paid,” Akinbiyi said in the statement.

    The INEC spokesman said that in the course of the payment, it was discovered that the names submitted by some ad-hoc staff were not the same as the names on the bank accounts submitted.

    “We, therefore, enjoin those who genuinely worked with the Commission in Lagos State and have not been paid to get in touch with the Electoral Officers of the local governments where they claimed to have worked.

    “The Electoral Officers will verify the claims and if found to be genuine, will send same to the accounts department of the Commission for processing.

    “We want to use this medium to thank media houses that balanced their stories by hearing the Commission’s side of the story, which we believe is the standard practice in journalism.

    “We equally enjoin media houses and journalists who are in the breach of this standards to give the Commission a fair hearing on any issue affecting it,” he added.

    According to him, the payment of honorarium to ad-hoc staff will continue until all people engaged for the general elections are paid.

    He said that all those who were engaged and were not paid should also dialogue with the commission with proof, instead of spreading falsehood through the media.

    “They can take the advantage of the SERVICOM unit of the Commission to lay their claims through the following numbers: 09056369789 or 08145419483,” the PRO said.

  • Breaking: INEC fixes Kogi, Bayelsa gov polls for Nov 2

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed 2nd November, 2019 for governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

    The decision, the National Commissioner in-charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye in a statement was reached at the end of INEC’s meeting Tuesday.

    According to the timetable and schedule of activities for the elections, parties are expected to produce their candidates between 2nd and 29th August 2019.

    INEC stated campaigns by Political Parties in public shall commence on 2nd August 2019 and end on  October 2019.

    The statement reads, “The Commission at its meeting held today approved the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States. which will hold in both Slates on Saturday 2nd November 2019.

    “The official notice for both elections will be issued on 1st August 2019. while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from 2nd -29th August 2019.

    “Campaigns by Political Parties in public shall commence on 2nd August 2019 and end on 31st October 2019.

    “The parties sponsoring candidates are required to submit the list of their agents not later than 2nd October 2019.

    READ ALSO: Appeal Court reverses sack of Niger East Senator, Umaru

    “The stated timelines are in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). All stakeholders are urged to take cognizance of and adhere strictly to them. ”

    Meanwhile, the commission has also approved the conduct of an extensive review and debriefing on the 201& general elections.

    These reviews and debriefing will take place between May and June 20l9.

    The Commission met today and approved a proposal to conduct an extensive review and debriefing on the 20l9 general elections in line with its existing practice.

    This is intended to evaluate the Commission’s performance of the key activities of the general elections. with a view to addressing identified challenges and strengthening operational and institutional capacities to conduct free, fair. credible and peaceful elections.

    The review will focus on the planning organization, conduct and coordination of the general elections particularly on the following: Logistics procurement and deployment of personnel and materials; Continuous Voter Registration and Collection of permanent voter’s cards; Legal environment of the elections particularly the legal challenges experienced over nomination of candidates and conduct of elections; Processes of party registration.

    Others are; Party primaries and nomination of candidates; Quality of ad hoc staff; Relationship between the Commission and diverse stakeholders including political panics security agencies, civil society organizations, the media and development partners; and Quality of inclusivity of the elections,  particularly regarding persons with disability, lDPs and gender balance.

    Two sets of activities are envisaged in the reviews as follows:  internal reviews involving National Commissioners, Resident Electoral Commissioners, Electoral Officers, Collation and Returning Officers as well as other key staff of the Commission; Review meetings with key stakeholders such as political panics, civil society organizations, security agencies, the media and development partners.

    The Commission he revealed has also commenced work on a comprehensive report of the 2019 general elections and has mandated its Electoral Institute to undertake detailed researches into various aspects of the elections.

    “It is the Commission’s hope that the outcomes of these reviews and studies will feed into further electoral reforms and its preparations for handing and future elections,” he further stated.

  • Police tear-gas INEC Ad-hoc staff protesting nonpayment of election allowances

    Police in Enugu on Tuesday used tear gas on some INEC ad-hoc staff at the just concluded general elections who protested the non-payment of their allowances in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who was at the scene, reports that the tear gas affected passersby, school children and motorists who ran helter-skelter for their lives.

    NAN reports that the protesters comprising corps members, students and workers besieged the INEC headquarters in the state and blocked entrance and exit to the building.

    Mr Tony Ani, a 42-year-old man, who served as an Assistant Presiding Officer (APO 3) lamented the nonpayment of allowances for both the Presidential and Governorship elections including the inhumane treatment meted out to them.

    “You can imagine me at this my age coming here for the past three weeks over this issue of nonpayment.

    “I worked at Akama Primary School, Ezeagu Local Government during the Presidential and Primary elections and we were told to fill attendance and payment details.

    “Ever since we have not received payment and they will always tell us to write our names and account number just to pacify us, but as soon as we leave, they will trash it,” he said.

    A Corps member, Miss Chioma Emmanuel, who worked at Igbo-etiti, said she had not been paid any of the allowances including training allowance since the elections ended in the state.

    She noted that the idea of the protest was formed when a WhatsApp page was created for those yet to receive allowance.

    In the same vein, a student of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) who claimed anonymity for fear of being disciplined by the school authority, berated INEC for treating the issue of allowance with levity.

    “The painful thing was that after failing to adequately make provision for accommodation, they still refused to pay us.

    “This money is what I hope to buy study materials and augment for my upkeep,” he said.

    Reacting, the INEC REC in Enugu State, Dr. Emeka Ononamadu described the protesters as `impostors’ sponsored to pressurize INEC into paying those that did not work.

    Read Also: UTME: Police warn students against malpractice

    Ononamadu, who refused to address the protesters, told journalists that those protesting were in the third category of payment.

    “One thing you need to know is that there are three sets of people we are dealing with now.

    “There are the corps members, those posted but did not work and those who were not posted but made the list because their names were subverted with that of others.

    “Those protesting are those students who are not corps members and who were not posted by INEC but bribed their way through and ended up working as Presiding Officers and APO 1.

    “Most of the protesters are in the third category of people and if you see any corps member among them, then it is either the fault of their Local Government Inspectors or head of mobilization because they are the ones we are

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  • Court to open hearing in N50b suit against INEC, two others

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled hearing for May 27 this year in a suit seeking to among others, bar the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from further use of transparent ballot boxes, permanent voters’ card and related devices for elections.

    The suit, filed by a firm – Bedding Holdings Limited – is intended, among others to enforce two pending judgments given by the Federal High Court on June 5, 2012 and January 28, 2014 which affirmed the firm’s exclusive patent rights over some inventions that formed the core of INEC’s electoral operations.

    Bedding identified the inventions on which it has patent rights to include: “the Transparent Ballot Boxes (TBB), Electronic Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes (ECI’BB), Direct Data Capturing Machines, Electronic Card Reader (ECR), its derivable Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) and Proof of Address System Scheme (PASS) Embedded with the Concept of the Coded Metal Plate and the Process and Application of these products to produce the Voters’ Register respectively.”

    The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1537/2018, has Bedding listed as the sole applicant, with INEC, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Registrar of Patents, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, listed as respondents.

    The applicant wants an order, compelling the respondents to abide by the judgment of the court delivered on June 5, 2012 in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/82/2011 and on January 28, 2014 in suit: FHC/ABJ/CS/816/2010.
    Bedding is also praying praying the court for an order, directing the respondents to pay it N50billion “as exemplary damages for the continued use of the Transparent Ballot Boxes, Electronic Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes and Direct Data Capturing Machines for the registration of voters and or the collation/compilation and production of the voters’ register” without its prior and express consent.

    It equally seeks an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the respondents from using its inventions and anything derived thereof, without the prior and express consent, and “to declare any action or actions whatsoever and however or purported to have been taken in connection thereto, as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional, null and null.”

    On December 18, 2018, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba (also of the Federal High Court, Abuja) restored the judgment given by Justice Adamu Bello on July 5, 2012 and gave Bedding the permission to commence the process of enforcing the judgment.

    In a supporting affidavit, deposed to by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sylvester Odigie, Beddings claimed that the respondents have continued to disregard the judgment of June 5, 2012 and a subsequent one of January 28, 2014 which further confirmed its (the firm’s) exclusive patent rights over the said inventions.

    Bedding stated that its core speciality is in the fabrication and manufacture of steel metal products such as transparent ballot boxes, electronic transparent boxes, among other products.

    It added that: “On 12th January, 1998 the applicant (Bedding) was issued with Certificate of Registration of Patent Rights No. RP 12994 and Registration of Industrial Designs Rights No. RD 5946 in and over the invention named Transparent Ballot Boxes (“TBB”) by the 3rd respondent (Registrar of Patents).

    “Also on 27th November, 2006, the applicant registered and was issued with the Patent Rights No. RP 16642 and Copyright Designs No. RD 13841 in and over the invention named “Electronic Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes”, an improved derivative of TBB, which integral features include the Electronic Card Reader (ECR) and it’s derivable Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC) thereof and Patent Rights NORP NG/P/2010/202, Proof of Address System/Scheme (PASS) (Embedded with the concept of the Coded Metal Plate) the process and application of which is used to produce the voters’ register.

    “The above-stated Patent and Industrial Designs Rights of the applicant is still valid and subsisting till date having been extended at various times by the 3rd respondent upon the application of the applicant.

    Read Also: INEC to release timetable for Bayelsa, Kogi governorship elections this week

    “By virtue of the above and the applicant being the exclusive and bona fide patentee of the said Patent and Design Rights over the inventions named Transparent Ballot Boxes (TBB),, Electronic Collapsible Transparent Ballot Boxes (ECTBB); Direct Date Capturing Machines, Electronic Card Reader (ECR), Permanent Voter’s Card, (PVC) and Proof of Address System Scheme (PASS) Embedded with the Concept of the Coded Metal Plate and the Process and Application of these products to produce the voters’ register respectively, the applicant and the 1st respondent (INEC) executed a license agreement on the 29th day of January 2003 wherein the applicant granted to the 1st respondent license over Transparent Ballot Boxes (“TBB”) till 29th of March 2003.

    “Further to the above, the 1st respondent, in issuing out award letters to its agents and contractors with respect to the transparent ballot boxes, included a clause informing them of the applicant’s right to the patent.”
    Bedding further stated that despite the subsistence of its patent rights over the inventions, the 3rd respondent, on October 14, 2010 issued similar certificates to three other firms in relation to the inventions over which it already had exclusive patent rights.

    The firm stated that upon the its “discovery of the multiple registrations and

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  • INEC to release timetable for Bayelsa, Kogi governorship elections this week

    THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday that it will before the end of this week release the timetable and schedule of activities for the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.

    The polls are billed to hold at separate dates later this year.

    INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu made the disclosure when he led other members of the commission to defend its 2019 budget proposal before a joint session of the Senate Committee on INEC and House Committee on Electoral Matters.

    Yakubu, while breaking down the commission’s 2019 budget proposal of N45.4 billion, explained: “This year, we are going to conduct two end of tenure elections into the offices of the governors in Kogi and Bayelsa states. This year towards the end of the year, we are going to conduct governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa.”

    “Let me seize this opportunity here to say before the end of this week, INEC will issue a timetable and schedule of activities for the governorship elections.”

    On the 2019 INEC budget, the INEC boss observed that the commission was receiving same envelop amount as 2017 and 2018.

    He said: “For 2019, we were presented with an envelope of N45.5 billion naira as our regular budget. This is the same envelope as in 2018 only slightly better than the envelopes of several years before them.  In 2017, it was N45 billion, in 2016, it was N45 billion naira and in 2018, it was increased marginally to N45.5 billion and the same envelope was presented to the commission in 2018 and 2019.”

    He noted that in terms of performance of the commission’s budget in the previous year, INEC was fully funded.

    “I will say for the 2018 financial year, we were fully funded. We were on the first line charge. So, in terms of the releases from the executive to the commission, we were fully funded.”

    The INEC Chairman further gave a breakdown of the proposed N45.5 billion naira, which he explained were in four components.

    He said: “The first one is personnel cost and in 2019, the commission is proposing the sum of N21.8 billion naira to cover consolidated salaries for 16,455 career employees of INEC and 51 political office holders, making a total of 16,506 employees of the commission in 2019.

    “The personnel cost is broken into two subheads. You have the consolidated salary of N17.5 billion and you have the social contribution, National Health Insurance, contributory pension, and employee compensation of N4.3 billion naira.”

    The second component, according to Prof. Yakubu, is the overhead cost put at N4.2 billion naira and the third budget head is for electoral expenditure.

    “The commission is proposing the sum of N17.7 billion naira under the electoral expenditure to cover such activities as monitoring party primaries, conventions, voter education, stakeholder meeting, legal expenses and others,” he explained.

    The INEC Chairman, however, noted that “the biggest expenditure item is the conduct of elections for which we are earmarking the sum of N3.3 billion for the foreseen and unforeseen elections”.

    “The 2019 general election is in effect over, but for INEC, the conduct of elections is an all year-round activity,” he said.

    The Chairman Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif, hailed INEC for a job well-done in the just concluded 2019 general elections even as he noted that there were concerns that should be addressed going forward.

    Nazif asked his colleagues and all stakeholders in the electoral process to pass into law, the amendment to the Electoral Act in a bid to strengthen the electoral process.

    On her part, the Chairperson of the House Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matters, Aishatu Dukku, stressed the need for stakeholders to be carried along in the 2019 INEC budget.