With less than seven months to the 2019 general elections in the country, political stakeholders have raised concern about the preparedness of the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a hitch-free and fair election.
Recent gubernatorial elections in Kogi, Anambra and Ekiti states have showed that much still needs to be done by the commission in correcting the lapses noticed in the 2015 general elections.
A major concern is the on-going Continuous Voters Registration (CVRs) exercise which has been hit by a plethora of challenges since it begun last April.
Despite repeated assurance by the Commission that it was working assiduously to eliminate challenges which have affected the smooth conduct of the exercise, millions of eligible voters across the country may be disfranchiseD over poor logistics and shortage of personnel in the various registration centres.
Recall that recently, some groups staged a peaceful protest at the INEC headquarters in Abuja over the poor manner the commission was handling the voter’s registration exercise across the country.
Stakeholders have expressed concern about the method the commission was deploying in conducting elections in the country which, according to them,was against the provisions of the electoral act, which provides that elections must be conducted through open secret system. They stressed that the current system gives room for easy manipulation of the electoral process.
National chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yusuf Sanni, urged the commission to adopt a secret open system as provided for in the electoral law, stressing that there should be a cubicle to protect the voter.
“My concern is that INEC should conduct elections, according to the electoral law provision which says voting should be secret open but what we saw in Ekiti state and recent elections in the country have been different, it is open throughout.
“This method gives room for rigging; if they cannot provide cubicle let them allow voting to be conducted far from where the public view. What we think now is that INEC has compromised and part of that is rigging”, he said.
Also, some opposition parties politicians have equally expressed reservation on the sincerity of the INEC chairman to conduct a free and fair elections in the country, citing his recent tendency to disobey court orders and aligning with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Pundits are of the view that the commission has done little to check the growing trends of vote-buying and punish election offenders, as provided for in the electoral law, which they stressed had encourage impunity and further under mind the electoral process in the country in recent time.
But speaking recently after a meeting with National Assembly leadership on the commission’s budget for the 2019 election, which is estimated at N242 billion.
INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, assured the nation that the commission was ready to conduct a free and fair election, stressing the commission would do what is necessary to make the goal a reality
“We have been assured of speedy passage of the budget, perhaps as early as next week.
“N242 billion is the total amount proposed, we have from today, exactly 191 days to the opening of polling units at 8 a.m on Saturday the 16th of February, 2019.
“There are activities that we have to undertake for a minimum of six months to the election date.
“The most important thing to say is that INEC was invited to meet with NASS leadership on how the proposed budget for the 2019 elections can be speedily considered and appropriated by the National Assembly.
Recently stakeholders have expressed concern about the method the commission was deploying in conducting elections in the country, which according to them was against the provision of the electoral act and give room for easy manipulation of the electoral process.
National Chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yusuf Sanni, urged the commission to adopt a secret open system has provided for in the electoral law stressing that there should be a cubicle to protect the voter.
“My concern is that INEC should conduct election according to the electoral law provision, the electoral law say that voting should be secret open but what we saw in Ekiti state and recent elections in the country have been different , it is open throughout.
“This method give room for rigging, if they cannot provide cubicle let them allow voting to be conducted far from where the public view. What we think now is that INEC is compromise and part of the rigging”.
Also, some opposition politicians have equally expressed reservation on the sincerity of the INEC chairman to conduct a free and fair elections in the country, citing his tendencies to disobey court orders and aligning with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Pundits are of the view that the commission has done little to check the growing trends of vote-buying and dealing perpetrators of election offenders which they stressed had encourage impunity and further under mind the electoral process in recent time.
A Chieftain of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Sunday Ekaenam, urged the commission to deploy officials of the Economy and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to pooling units if it was serious about checking the growing trend of vote-buying in the country.
“ INEC is not serious, personally I think they are working with APC, look at what happened in Ekiti state; they were buying votes and their official were there watching, am not happy with the way the election was conducted generally it was rigged.
“If they are serious about checking vote –buying, let them deploy EffCC officials to poling units to arrest any-one doing it but they would not
