The Nation Newspaper

Tag: under age voting

  • On votes buying and under-age voting

    SIR: Nigerian elections process have been modified or fine-tuned to reflect the global practice. In 2015, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) introduced the card reader machines. The gradual adoption of technological for the conduct of election has become a success story. The cases of fraud or rigging that usually characterise our election process has been expunged or removed and replaced with more transparent ones. The 2015 election adjudged by both national and international observers as more credible and transparent are the product of technology using the card reader machines. Notwithstanding the hitches encountered in some places during the 2015 polls, Attahiru Jega’s INEC deserves an encomium or accolades for a job well done. With the success recorded, the country could boast of a credible election.

    It worries every right thinking Nigerians that the present INEC, led by Professor Mahmood Yakubu will have to contend or face with two interwoven problems viz: under age voting and votes buying. These twin problems are election offences punishable by laws. The 2010 electoral acts as amended specifically states: “A person shall be eligible to vote if he/she is a Nigerian and attained the age of 18”. In what appeared to be a direct contradiction of the electoral laws, pictures of under-age voting went viral in the recently conducted local government election in Kano State. Although, both the state Independent Electoral Commission chairman and the state governor denied the existence of under-age voting during the exercise, the ugly incidence is not new in the history of Nigerian elections.

    After the hue and cries that greeted the alleged under age voting in Kano State, there are reported cases of votes buying in Ekiti and Osun states elections. Both the political parties are culpable for the breach of electoral acts in their bid or desperation to win election at all costs. Parties’ agents were seen moving with huge cash to induce voters. In some polling units, the parties’ agents were ready or willing to buy vote at any given price. No wonder, voters who agreed to sell their constitutional right smiled to their pockets.

    The glaring breach of electoral acts by our desperate politicians poses great dangers to the credibility of future elections. The questions begging for answers are: why would our politicians resort to votes buying; and why under-age voters to win an election?

    And what is INEC doing to contain the menace of votes buying and under-age voting?

     

    • Ibrahim Mustapha,

     Pambegua, Kaduna State.

     

  • Under-age voting: Disquiet over non-release of report by INEC

    There is disquiet over the non-release of the report of the committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate allegations of under-age voting in Kano State.

    Although the report has been submitted to INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, it has not been made public, fueling suspicions that the findings may be swept under the carpet.

    INEC National Commissioner May Agbamuche-Mbu, who spoke on the report on AIT’s programme, Kakaki, yesterday, acknowledged that the committee had submitted the report to the chairman.

    However, she could not categorically disclose when the report will be released, merely saying the commission will decide on that.

    Under the constitution, the responsibility for conducting local council elections is within the jurisdiction of the state electoral commission. But, the state electoral agencies depend on the INEC’s register of voters for the exercise.

    Initially, INEC had denied that fake voters participated in the disputed council poll, thereby heightening post-election tension in the Northwest state.

    There was uproar in Kano State when the pictures of alleged under-aged voters were posted on the social media. Opposition parties cried foul, saying that the polls were rigged in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). They feared that the scenario may be repeated in next year’s polls, unless urgent steps were taken by the electoral agency to sanitise the voting register.

    Irked by the alarm, INEC set up the committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding illegal voting by under-aged youths.

    The committee, said a source, was also given the mandate to “clean-up” the register of voters by removing the names of under-aged and deceased voters.

    According to the source, the committee, which attempted the pilot screening of the register of voters in eight local councils, discovered overwhelming evidence of under-age voting, which rendered the polls fraudulent and put a question mark on the results.

    A Kano PDP chieftain, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the voters’ register in Kano is unreliable, stressing that it had been discredited by the fictitious names.

    He lamented that the electoral commission had developed a cold feet and unwilling to release the report of the committee it set up, adding that INEC might have decided to gloss over the scandal.

    The source added: “The credibility of INEC has been dented by the glaring disclosure that children and teenagers who were not eligible to vote participated in the election. The implication is that the voting population of Kano recorded in the register is false and cannot be substantiated. The last council election was a scam and an affront on electoral democracy.

    “The onus is on INEC to release the report and implement the recommendations made by the committee as the first critical step in sanitising the register. We do not have confidence in the current register of voters and we will resist any plan to make use of it in future elections, unless the anomalies are corrected. The current register is not authentic. It is not valid at all.”

  • Under age voting: Committee submits report to INEC

    The committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the allegations of underage voting during local government elections in Kano State has submitted its report to the electoral body.

    The committee, according to a statement issued by INEC Director of Publicity and Voter Education, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi in Abuja, submitted it report to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday.

    The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Ahmed Nahuche, told Yakubu that diligent and wide consultations with stakeholders were made by the committee.

    The committee was inaugurated by INEC in February, to investigate the allegation of underage voting which was allegedly  linked to the Voters’ Register in Kano.

    Nahuche said in carrying out the assignment, the committee consulted with critical stakeholders through visitations and interactive sessions.

    He said: “The interactive sessions included Civil Society Organizations, political parties, print and electronic media organizations and security agencies.

    “The committee, in the course of consultation and interactive sessions, received a number of pictures, video clips, reports, documents and presentations from the stakeholders.

    “It immediately embarked on thorough review and analysis of these materials in order to ascertain the actual connection with the LGA elections in Kano.

    “The committee also examined the social media reports of pictures and video clips that triggered the outrage and the alleged participation of underage persons in the LGA elections as a key area of focus for the investigation.

    “The pictures and video clips were thoroughly analyzed by the committee.’’

    NAN

     

     

  • INEC probes under age voting in Kano

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set up an investigative committee to probe the allegations of under age voting in Kano State during the recent local government elections.

    The panel has received submissions and testimonies from 28 political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    INEC Public Relations Officer in Kano State Muhmmad Garba Lawan said the committee will get to the root of the matter and make appropriate recommendations.

    Also, PDP Vice Chairman Alhaji Shehu Na-Allah Kura was under age voting was worrisome to the party.

    The INEC official said stakeholders have been cooperating with the committee, adding its assignment will be fruitful.

    Members of the committee headed by Abubakar Nahuce, an engineer,  include MrsMay Agbamuche Mbu, Mike Igini,  Kassim Geidam, Yakubu M. Duku,  Rukayata Bummi,  Bello,  Paul Omokore,  and Jude Chikezie Okwuonu.

    The Committee has already met with officials of Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC), civil society organisations, journalists and other stakeholders.

    The committee is expected to unravel the extent of participation of non-eligible voters in the exercise, the voters  register used during  the polls and activities of electoral officers.

    According to Nahuce, the aim of the commission is not to pass judgment on the conduct of the polls, but to ascertain, if the voters register was obtained from INEC.

    The setting up of the panel may provoke a debate on the relationship between the national and state electoral ommissions.