Says 7.8m PVCs uncollected
Continuous Voter Registration begins April
By Emeka Nze, Abuja and Agencies
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday revealed that of the 167 elections conducted since assuming offi ce, only one was nullifi ed by the court. Th e commission’s boss also lamented that about 7.8 million Permanent Voter Cards were yet to be collected by registered Nigerians from the commission. Yakubu announced this while rendering his scorecard at the INEC’s fi rst quarter meeting with the media yesterday in Abuja.
He said: “We have so far conducted 167 elections, and so far only one has been nullifi ed by the court. We will continue to do what we do courageously, maybe when we are not here, somebody will say the commission has done very well.” A breakdown of the various elections conducted by INEC between 2015 and now, indicated that they (the elections) were made up of governorship in Bayelsa, Edo, Kogi and Edo states, Senatorial, House of Representatives, Houses of Assembly and area council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as well 16 byeelections in some states. Th e commission listed the outstanding elections to include those of Anambra Central Senatorial, Mashi/Dutse Federal constituency seat in Katsina and Warri South I State constituency of Delta state. On the issue of inconclusive elections the commission is often accused of, the INEC helmsman said over 75 of the elections conducted under his leadership were concluded at fi rst ballot.
He, however, clarifi ed that elections declared inconclusive were done in line with the rules and regulations guiding the conduct of elections, assuring that INEC would not lower the bar in the conduct of credible election. “We are conscious of our responsibilities and we are going to proceed as we have been doing.”
On the court ordered rerun election, Yakubu said the commission was only left with Anambra Central Senatorial District legislative poll as the only one outstanding. Th is, he explained, was as a result of litigation surrounding the poll, and expressed the hope that the litigation would be addressed for INEC to conclude the poll. On the uncollected PVCs, Yakubu expressed regret that despite the commission’s highlevel awareness, some 7.8 million registered voters were yet to collect the document two years after the 2015 general elections, adding, however, that only 700,000 PVCs had so far been collected. Th e INEC chair further revealed that the commission will, by next month (April), commence the continuous voter registration exercise with a view to cleaning up the voters register, because of those that may have died between the last time the exercise was carried out and now, as well as to accommodate those that have now attained the voting age of 18 years.
Providing insight into the early release of the 2019 polls, the commission’s boss explained that it was to allow for proper planning, need to get the commission’s budget properly sorted out as well as in the interest of international best practices. “We did it basically in order to plan properly. We cannot continue to be master of fi re brigade. We should be moving from uncertainty to certainty. We need a lot of time to plan. “It is a huge task. We reckon that 2019 is going to be another year full of elections with 27 governorship elections, 109 Senate, 360 Federal Constituencies, 991 State Constituencies and 68 in the Federal Capital Territory comprising six chairmanship seats and 62 Councillorship seats,” he said. Speaking on party registration, the INEC chair said, at the moment, there are 40 registered parties in the country, with fresh 87 applications from political associations seeking registration as political parties. He assured that the provisions of the laws and the guidelines of INEC will be strictly applied in determining the ones to be registered. On casualties of elected public offi cials, he said no fewer that sixteen persons have so far died between 2015 and now, following which bye-elections were held to fi ll the vacuum created, with only two of such pending.
He also said that about 30 certifi cates of returns have been issued by the commission to some elected offi cials on account of court judgements. Responding, President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr. Waheed Odusile, lauded INEC for partnering the media in the nation’s democratic process. “We don’t create events; we report events; you don’t blame the media for reporting what happened. If you have information, give the media in your interest. At every level, we urge players to take the media as partners. We also want free, fair and credible elections; it is in your best interest to take the media along,” the NUJ boss explained.
