INEC To Meet Over “Do-Or-Die” Attitude Of Politicians During General Elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it
will meet with stakeholders to address the conduct of politicians
during the just concluded general elections.

Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, stated
this on Tuesday at a meeting with the Resident Electoral
Commissioners in Abuja.

He said “We need a conversation around the personal conduct of
especially the political actors.

“The “do-or-die” attitude of some politicians and the inability
to penalise electoral offenders incentivise bad behaviour”.

Read Full Statement Below:

REMARKS BY HONOURABLE CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL
COMMISSION (INEC), PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, AT A MEETING WITH THE
RESIDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSIONERS, CONFERENCE ROOM, INEC
HEADQUARTERS, ABUJA, TUESDAY 28TH MAY 2019

Honourable National Commissioners
Resident Electoral Commissioners
Senior officials of the Commission
Ladies and Gentlemen

1. It is my pleasure to welcome you to yet another meeting. At
the last meeting, we reviewed our preparations for the 2019 general
elections. Today, we are meeting for the first time since the
conclusion of the elections. General elections in Nigeria are
always the biggest activities the nation undertakes every four
years, involving the participation of millions of our citizens as
voters, election duty staff, security officials, the civil society,
faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, socio-cultural
organisations, the National Peace Committee and the media. General
elections also attract intense international attention from
observers, the diplomatic corps and the media.

2. Many observers have already submitted their interim and final
reports on the elections. Many civil society organisations
appraised various aspects of the exercise.

The judiciary in Nigeria is also adjudicating many petitions
challenging the conduct of primary elections by political parties
as well as the outcome of the general elections. On behalf of the
Commission, I wish to express our appreciation to all the
individuals and organisations that observed the elections and
submitted reports on the outcome to the Commission. We shall
dutifully study these reports and take into consideration the
actionable recommendations in planning for future elections.

3. You may recall that the Commission had earlier assured the
nation that we shall review all aspects of our processes and
procedures for the 2019 general elections in full consultation with
stakeholders. We are convinced that there should be a major
national conversation on the management of our electoral
process.

This process must be qualitatively different from what was done
in the past and benefit from all previous efforts at reform.
Today’s meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners is the
first in the series of engagements within the Commission and with
all stakeholders. We are convinced that until we get our electoral
process on the right, consistent and progressively positive
trajectory, our efforts at nation-building and promoting peace and
progress shall remain epileptic. No doubt we have made progress
since 1999 but a lot of work still lies ahead.

4. Over the next two months, the Commission plans to engage with
all stakeholders, beginning with a root and branch review involving
our own officials at Local Government and State levels, ranging
from Electoral Officers (EOs), Administrative Secretaries (ASs),
Heads of Department (HoDs) and representatives of ad hoc officials
engaged for elections from Presiding Officers at Polling Unit level
to collation and returning officers.

We shall then follow it up with consultations at the national
level with political parties, the security agencies, civil society
organisations, the media, development partners, traditional and
religious organisations, the national and local peace committees
and professional groups accredited to observe elections. Details of
the series of activities and timelines will be finalised at this
meeting and made public immediately.

5. We intend to structure the conversation around the following
critical issues:

i. Preparations for the 2019 general elections, looking in
particular at some of the critical materials, staging posts such as
the RACs and super RACs, storage facilities, the
collation/declaration centres etc.
ii. Voter registration and collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards
(PVCs).

iii. Communication issues: voter education and publicity.

iv. Political parties: number, mode of registration, internal
democracy, accreditation of party agents etc.
v. Recruitment, training and deployment of election personnel.

vi. Logistics: movement and security of personnel and
materials.

vii. ICT related issues ranging from the configuration and
deployment of technology, including the recruitment, training and
deployment of technical support. We also need an informed
conversion on the use of technology to deepen the electoral
process.

viii. Procurement and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive
materials.

ix. Election day processes, including polling unit
administration, accreditation of voters, voting procedure and
result management, particularly the collation and transmission of
results.

x. Reverse logistics for personnel and materials, including an
audit of materials used as well as the storage and retrieval of
election statistics.

xi. Election security focusing on the relationship between INEC
and the security agencies, the effectiveness and impact of election
risk assessment methods, deployment and conduct of security
personnel.

xii. The electoral legal framework and the necessity for a
comprehensive, dispassionate and early conclusion as well as the
passage of any constitutional and electoral act amendments.

xiii. The extensive responsibilities of INEC, which has become
not just an election management body but a manager of the
democratic process in general.

This often leaves the Commission little time to plan for
elections and simultaneously and effectively address other
extensive and more complex responsibilities such as constituency
delimitation and prosecution of electoral offenders. The Commission
now conducts elections all-year round (court-ordered rerun
elections, bye-elections and seven off-season Governorship
elections).

xiv. Inclusivity issues, involving the participation of women,
youths and persons living with disabilities in elective offices in
particular and the electoral process in general.

xv. The plethora of election observers, their accreditation,
responsibilities and behaviour during and after elections.

xvi. Funding issues: Elections are not only becoming
increasingly expensive with an increased number of voters,
personnel and materials requiring huge logistics and deployment of
new technology. We need a deep conversation around the cost of
elections.

xvii. Above all, we need a conversation around the personal
conduct of especially the political actors. The “do-or-die”
attitude of some politicians and the inability to penalise
electoral offenders incentivise bad behaviour.

6. The Commission hopes that the recommendations arising from
the national conversation will feed into an enduring reform of our
electoral process. For it to be robust, we also need to take into
consideration the reports of previous committees on electoral
reform.

Over the last 40 years, virtually all our elections have been
accompanied by the report of one committee or another on electoral
reform, among them the Babalakin Commission of Inquiry into the
affairs of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO in 1986), the
Uwais report on electoral reform (2008), the Lemu Committee on
post-election violence (2011), the Ken Nnamani Committee on
constitutional and electoral reform (2017), the various
administrative reports by INEC, investigation reports by the
security agencies (the Nigeria Police and the Nigerian Army), the
independent studies by the National Human Right Commission (2015
and 2017), the judgements of the various election petition
tribunals, the reports of domestic and international observers,
record of public hearing for the amendment of the electoral legal
framework by the National Assembly and even confessional statements
by some political actors.

There is value in revisiting all these reports. The Commission
will work with stakeholders in undertaking such a comprehensive
review in earnest.

7. Once again, I welcome all our RECs to this meeting. I thank
you for your attention and the meeting now goes into the working
session.

Subscribe ToNairalaw News!

EFCC Arrests Proprietor, Students of Internet Fraud
School

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal
Office, has arrested the proprietor of a Yahoo Yahoo training
school in Lagos, Frank Chinedu.

Chinedu, 22, was arrested alongside eight students of the
unnamed training centre located at 14, Animashaun Street,
Progressive Estate, Ojodu Berger, Lagos, while receiving lectures
in internet fraud activities.
The students are: Ahmed Musa, 24; Desmond Eze, 29; Preye Kingsley,
23; Benjamin Irabor, 21; Benjamin Opah, 19; Akapo Prosper, 22;
Innocent Paul, 20 and Olamide Edun, 20.

The suspected internet fraudsters were arrested under cover on
May 22, 2019, following intelligence reports received by the
Commission about their involvement in alleged criminal
activities.

Items recovered from the suspects at the point of arrest include
nine laptops, 16 mobile phones, an Airtel modem, Orange Wifi and
one Toyota Camry with registration number EPE406FN.
The suspects will soon be charged to court.

Tony Orilade
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity