Vows not to take instructions from anybody
Reiterates call for Electoral Offences Tribunal
By Emeka Nze
Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday accused political parties of fielding ex-convicts and certificate forgers as candidates for elective offices.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who made this disclosure in Abuja while fielding questions at that Stakeholders Validation Conference of the 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, blamed the political parties for failing to carry out due diligence on the candidates they often nominate during primaries.
Upon the discovery and annulment of such elections by the court, Yakubu said the commission would now be saddled with the responsibility of conducting rerun polls at great costs to the nation.
“In some case, some of the candidates nominated shouldn’t have been nominated if the political parties carried out due diligence. If political parties had carried out due diligence on their candidates, we will never have the kind of problems we have with numerous elections being nullified on account of improper conduct of party primaries.
“It has also been observed that some parties have nominated persons who are ex-convicts as candidates and INEC has no power to reject such candidates, only for court to nullify such election after they have been conducted. Some have even nominated candidates with cases of certificate forgery only for the court to nullify the election.”
While stating that INEC cannot reject such duly nominated candidates by political parties, as stipulated by law, he, however, stressed that the problems and consequences associated with such nominations are the ultimate nullification on account of inappropriate nomination.
Yakubu appealed to the political parties’ leadership to respect the rules on their party primaries, stating that “under the electoral law, if the national leadership of the party submits a candidate’s name to the commission, INEC cannot reject it once the person is duly nominated by his or her political party and the law hasn’t changed.
“But there are problems and consequences. Some of the consequences are that courts could get the elections nullified on account of inappropriate nomination of candidate by political parties. At present INEC has no choice than to go and conduct a rerun at a great cost to the country.
“Under these cases, INEC has been made to conduct fresh elections. The parties are here and we can only appeal to their leadership to ensure that only what transpires at the primaries is transferred to the commission, and they should carry out due diligence on their candidates before forwarding their names to the commission.”
The INEC chairman further disclosed that the ongoing amendment of the Electoral Act on electronic voting will first be experimented by Kaduna state, which had expressed readiness to deploy the technology in its next local government election.
Recalling with regrets the impasse in the last Kogi governorship election, Yakubu said contrary to believe in some quarters, the comment by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, never influenced the commission’s stand on the constitutional crisis occasioned by the demise of Prince Abubakar Audu, the All Progressives Congress candidate during the poll.
He said: “Kogi was the first election under the new leadership of the commission. The election was held on Saturday, and the candidate died on Sunday and we were waiting for the report of our National Commissioner. When it final came, we took time to study it.
“But while we were doing that, the AGF, being of course, a political office holder, spoke off the cuff somewhere on Tuesday, and was reported. Coincidentally, our statement which we were set to release for the public, came after that.
“I need to say here that it was a sheer coincidence. For us at INEC, we didn’t take instructions from anybody, and we will never take instructions from anybody. INEC will take decisions and stand by those decisions.”
Speaking on inconclusive polls the commission is often accused of, the commission’s boss said, the body under his watch had just one inconclusive poll.
While stressing the challenges associated with off-season polls over and above the general elections, he said INEC’s courage to declare election inconclusive should be commended, because, according to him, “it limits litigations.”
Enumerating the various ways INEC has cooperated with the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), he said Niger state had also approached the commission for the use of the card reader device, while Sokoto state deployed same device in its last local government election.
“So far, INEC has been cooperating with the SIECs in the conduct of local government elections. We cooperate with some states like Sokoto state which deployed card reader devices in conduct of their local government elections.
“We have also been approached by Niger state for the use of the card reader for their local government election. Kaduna state also came knocking. In fact in the case of Kaduna, they even want to experiment on electronic voting beyond the use of smart card reader. So, we are looking forward to know how this experiment works in Kaduna state.
Professor Yakubu stressed that once the laws remains the same, there is nothing to be done in the improvement of funding for the SIECs which he said, depended on INECs voter register, permanent voters card configuration of voting units and wards, borrowing of INEC vehicles, amongst others.
The INEC chairman also reiterated his call for a Special Electoral Offenses Tribunal, which every violator of electoral law will be subjected to, be it the INEC staff or any other person, while stating that “all the 23 affected staff have been placed on suspension and on half salary until they prove their innocence at the courts.”
He noted that the commission will do the same thing with the other 202 staff indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who are still under investigation by the commission.
The INEC boss further stated that “while we continue with these efforts, my position has consistently been that it is very, very difficult for one to prosecute himself. INEC has been saddled with the responsibility for the prosecution of electoral offenders, but look at the challenges, we continued do our best.
“When you want to make arrests of electoral offenders, the commission has no police to make the arrest. Secondly, we have to investigate it so that you can have evidences that will make for successful persecution. We have no powers under the law to conduct investigation, so how do we successfully prosecute?
“That is why I said consistently that this country needs a Special Electoral Offenses Tribunal which every violator of electoral law will be subjected to, be it the INEC staff or any other person. This is the solution so that if you violate the electoral law, you know that there will be justice for whoever is involved.
“For us at INEC, we will continue to ensure the conduct of elections with honour, integrity and courage. We’ll never let the country down,” Yakubu assured.
Presenter of the 2017-2020 Strategic Plan, Dr Otive Igbuzor, underscored the need for INEC to expand the frontiers of its funding by reaching out to more development partners.
Also speaking at the event, Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, advocated early funding for the commission for the implementation of the strategic plans for the 2019 elections.
