Barely a month to the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states respectively, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has spoken on its activities spearheading the exercise. EMEKA NZE writes.
Firstly, against the backdrop of complaints of unfair disqualification of certain candidates, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has clarified that “the commission did not not reject or disqualify (any candidate) because there is nothing to reject or disqualify.”
According to Yakubu at a meeting with the Senate Committee on INEC, in the opinion, of the commission, once the constitutional requirement is not met, the individual is not fit to contest.
Invalid nominations
He explained that, “For this category of invalid nominations, six parties were involved in Bayelsa, and eight in Kogi, making a total of 14 parties. Out 101 parties, 87 have made valid nominations. We have no problem with them. But 14 parties submitted invalid nominations and we informed them accordingly.
“But out of the 87 parties that made valid nominations, one party in Bayelsa withdrew from the election during the period for withdrawal and substitution of candidates and in Kogi, 18 political parties withdrew, making a total of 19 for the two states.
“After all the expenditure and monitoring of the party primaries and based on the provisions of the law, they then decided to withdraw from the elections. It’s entirely legitimate for them to withdraw. And they gave quite a number of reasons, ranging from lack of financial capacity to prosecute the election. Some said family advice on the fear of violence; one said ill-health, another said travel arrangements and another said there is a slim chance that his party will win the election.
Three drag INEC to court
“In all, we have 45 parties contesting in Bayelsa and 23 in Kogi, making a total of 68. But three of the 14 parties that made invalid nominations have dragged the commission to court. I can’t comment on the merit of these cases in court.”
“In our opinion, once the constitutional requirement is not met, we can’t see an individual who has not met the constitutional requirement for age contesting.
However, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for November 16 governorship election in Kogi state, Natasha Akpoti thought otherwise and had accordingly challenge her disqualification to contest the election in court.
Natasha wondered why her party would be disqualified by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged under-age of her running mate.
She expressed shock that her candidature could as well be rejected by the commission when people of the same age with her running mate had been permitted during 2019 elections to contest.
Similarly, her Campaign Organization condemned and rejected the purported disqualification, saying such illegality by the commission won’t stand. The statement issued by the Spokesman, Natasha Akpoti Campaign Organization, Odaudu Joel Minister, noted that the decision of the commission is inconsistent.
He berated the INEC for allowing gubernatorial candidates or running mates of same age with or even younger than hers in several political parties in states across the country to contest in the 2019 general elections.
“A country’s polity is as strong and efficient as the electoral body that guides it. When the electoral body becomes a tool available to the use of politicians determined to foist their corrupt, inefficient, selfish and detrimental style of leadership on the suffering citizens, then it is unfortunate and the people must speak up and demand for fairness and justice”, the statement said.
“To all our friends, supporters, and members of our campaign organization, Barrister Natasha Akpoti, once again expresses her deep felt appreciation of your steadfastness. Your support, loyalty and desire for a better Kogi is what drives her”.
“We will fight this great injustice by INEC. We will conquer this challenge as usual and proceed with our plan to liberate Kogi state from poverty and ineffectual leadership,” the statement added.
Ad hoc staff
The INEC chairman further stated that the commission would require 26000 ad-hoc staff to conduct the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.
Yakubu said that Bayelsa would require 9,945 ad-hoc staff while Kogi would require 15,868 ad-hoc staff, adding that the commission has commenced the process of recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff, saying that those that are going to perform the tasks at the polling units, mainly drawn from the NYSC.
“We’ll require lot of ad-hoc staff to conduct the elections in the two states. In Bayelsa, we’ll require 9,945 ad-hoc staff. In Kogi, we’ll require 15,868 ad-hoc staff. In all, for the two states, the Commission will require about 26,000 ad-hoc staff to conduct the elections.
According to Yakubu, already, the commission has concluded the master training, the train-the-trainer programme for security personnel and has also conducted the refresher training for electoral officers and assistant electoral officers for the two states.
“It is not just about recruiting the ad-hoc staff but also training them. We have commenced the process of recruitment of ad-hoc staff and training them – those that are going to perform the tasks at the polling units, mainly drawn from the NYSC.
“Already, we have concluded the master training, the train-the-trainer programme for security personnel and we have also conducted the refresher training for electoral officers and assistant electoral officers for the two states.”
Apart from the two states, Yakubu said the commission would conduct other end-of-tenure off season as well governorship elections every year until very close to the next general elections.
“But in addition to the governorship elections, we also have other elections, essentially bye-elections. We have already since the 2019 general elections conducted one bye-election into the Pengana state constituency in Plateau state, caused by the death of the member representing that constituency.
Loaded calender
“In addition, we have another bye-election pending in Katsina, in the Sabwa state constituency. The speaker of the (Katsina) state assembly has already declared vacancy, so we are preparing for the bye election.
“But in addition to the governorship election in Bayelsa state, there is also the pending supplementary election into the Brass II state constituency in six polling units. We planned and prepared to conduct the election shortly after the general elections, but for the protracted legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court.
“It is only recently that the Supreme Court determined the case. So, we are going back to conduct that election in six polling units and make a declaration for the Brass II state constituency. We are going to combine it with the governorship election.
“In 2019, we have Kogi and Bayelsa; next year 2020, we have Edo and Ondo governorship elections. Thereafter in 2021, we have the Anambra governorship elections and in 2022, we have Ekiti and Osun governorship elections. So, this is the first in the major off-season governorship elections that the Commission is going to conduct.”
Bayelsa, Kogi data
The INEC chairman also explainedspecific details of the electoral data for the states of Bayelsa and Kogi, saying that Bayelsa has 923,182 registered voters, whereas Kogi has 1,646,350 registered voters.
Prof Yakubu further disclosed that 889,308 Bayelsans have collected their PVCs, representing 96.3 percent of the total number of registered voters while in Kogi, state 1,485,828 PVCs have been collected representing 90.2 percent.
Yakubu also disclosed the uncollected PVCs: “In Bayelsa it is 33, 874, representing 3.7 percent of the total number of registered voters. Whereas in Kogi it is 160, 522, representing 9.8 percent of the total number of registered voters.
The INEC chairman said: “In terms of the number of local governments, Bayelsa has 8 local government areas. Kogi has 21. Bayelsa has 105 electoral wards, Kogi has 239. For the polling units including the voting points, Bayelsa has 2,244 polling units and voting points while Kogi has 3508.
“In terms of the registered voters, Bayelsa has 923,182 registered voters, whereas Kogi has 1,646,350 registered voters. Since 2015, it has been the practice that where citizens have no PVCs (permanent voters’ cards) they can’t vote. So, what is the rate of collection of PVCs in the two states?
“In Bayelsa, 889,308 PVCs have been collected, representing 96.3 percent of the total number of registered voters. In Kogi, 1, 485,828 PVCs have been collected representing 90.2 percent.”
The commission explained that for the two elections (Kogi and Bayelsa), there are 14 activities that it has to implement, from the publication of the Notice of Election to the Election Day proper. “So far, we have successfully accomplished nine out of the 14 activities.
“The 10th activity which is the presentation of the register of voters to political parties is going to take place on Monday the 14th in our offices in both Bayelsa and Kogi states. The remaining four activities will be accomplished between the 2nd and 16th of November. So, in terms of the goals we set for ourselves, we are well on course.”
Logistics
The chairman said the commission is aware that the two states are difficult in terms of terrain. Arrangements are being concluded with the National Union of Road Transport Workers for land transport based on the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and the NURTW.
In Bayelsa, because 5 out of the 8 local governments are riverine, we have also made arrangements with boat owners.
“All non-sensitive materials for the elections for the two states have been delivered and they (our staff) are batching the materials by local governments, by RAs (Registration Areas) and ultimately down to the level of Polling Units.
“As always, the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) will be deployed for the election for the purpose of voter accreditation and we have made arrangements for the configuration and deployment of the SCRs.
“The Manual Register will be printed. One will be pasted at the polling units, the other one will be held by the presiding officer and that is the one that will be ticked off on Election Day. We are well on course also on the production of the register.
Security Situation
“Both Kogi and Bayelsa are politically volatile. And we have seen the kind of situation that arose during the conduct of primaries by political parties and one or two incidents in Kogi with the commencement of campaigns by political parties. We have the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) which I co-chair with the National Security Adviser (NSA).
“The Police are the lead agency but all other security agencies are also involved. We had a consultative meeting with the Inspector General of Police and we are working on the deployment jointly with the security agencies for the security personnel needed for the two elections.
“We conducted our own risk assessment for the two states and we share what we do with the security agencies that also conduct their own risk assessment on the basis of which the security agencies will be guided in their deployment.
“We’ll soon finalise on the deployment plan jointly with the security agencies, including the escort of personnel and materials as well as the protection of the processes throughout the period of the elections.
“In a place like Bayelsa, we not only hire boats, we also work with the security agencies – the Marine Police, the Navy and the Army to have gun-boats to escort the boats carrying personnel and materials for the election and we are working with the security agencies in that respect.
About stakeholder engagements Yakubu said “Given the security situation in the two states, we realized that we have to be more proactive in our engagements with all the stakeholders at state level since this is the first major election after the 2019 general elections and learning lessons from what happened in the 2019 general elections. We have taken the extra-ordinary step to start engaging with the stakeholders long before the elections.”
Complying with court orders
The chairman also explained about the party primaries and nomination of candidates. “We have 92 political parties today. We had 91 going into the 2019 general elections but since the general elections, the courts have ordered the Commission to register another political party. Some of the (existing) parties were actually registered by court order.
“The constitutional provision for registration of parties is very clear. But in addition, the Electoral Act 2010 says that if an association doesn’t hear from INEC within one month, it is deemed to be registered. INEC has a record of obeying court orders. So, we have 92 political parties.”
“On budget, where are we? Do we have the resources for the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa? Yes, we made provision in the 2019 regular budget for the two governorship elections. We have also made provision for some unforeseen off-season elections, like the Pengana state constituency election caused by death and the pending bye-election in Katsina, again, caused by death.
“We have also made provision for recall and referendum. And we received a letter from one of the states asking for the register of voters to initiate a recall of one of the members of the National Assembly. So, there is already a request for initiating recall. We made provision in the regular 2019 budget for this kind of situation and we are well within budget.
