By Emeka Nze Abuja
Th e Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians and the International Community that it will achieve a better feat in the 2019 general elections. Chairman of the Commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, gave this assurance yesterday when the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington, paid him a familiarisation visit at the INEC headquarters in Abuja. According to the INEC chairman, the commission “is committed to making future elections even better than the 2015 general actions. 2019 elections will be infi nitely better than 2015 and so we have taken steps.”
Yakubu noted that the key to successful election was planning, adding that INEC had been planning for the 2019 elections. He stated that the commission has, as a prelude to 2019 general elections, drawn the strategic plan which covered 2017-2021, stressing that the success of 2015 general elections was anchored on the adoption of a previous plan which terminated in 2016, hence the new strategic plan. Earlier, Symington had eulogised Nigeria’s eff orts at the successful conduct of 2015 general elections despite all negative predictions made before the exercise.
Meanwhile, the Commission has said it will today inaugurate its 2019 Election Project Committee which will be tasked to determine the budget for the conduct of the general election. Yakubu noted that the commission could only come out with a budget for the election after arriving at the election project as contained in its new strategic plan. In an interview with newsmen after a meeting with the ambassador he noted that the commission would not request for any help from outside world for the conduct of the 2019 election, adding that as a sovereign nation, Nigeria would foot all the bills, “since election is a sovereign issue”.
“We never ask for assistance from any country to conduct our elections. We are very clear in our mind that elections are sovereign issues. INEC can never go to any country to ask for help to conduct elections in Nigeria. Th e Nigerian government is responsible for the conduct of elections. Because it is a sovereign issue, we leave it as such. “Only Nigerians can determine who become their leader at any level without the interference of the outside world”, he added