Barely 84 days to the commencement of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC) Professor Mahmood Yabubu on Friday appealed to the National Assembly to pass the National Electoral Offences Bill into law, saying the country’s electoral process will remain ineffective without proper agency to deal with electoral offenders.
Yakubu who stated this at a one day strategic interactive meeting with line Editors in Lagos, stressed the need to build a positive electoral culture in the country, noting that the commission is not happy that most electoral offenders were left off the hook because INEC lacked the wherewithal to prosecute electoral offenders.
He pointed out that when the, “Bill for an Act to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission’’ becomes operational it will be a position to expeditiously deal with electoral offenders.
Dwelling on the possibility of replacing INEC materials being destroyed as a result of frequent burning of INEC offices across the country, Yakubu said the commission is making frantic efforts to replace the materials.
The INEC chairman however, assured those whose Permanent Voters Card (PVC) were in INEC custody when their offices were razed by arsonists that they will be able to vote, because each voter has voter identification and carries a Personal Identification Number PIN.
He also assured those who have misplaced their PVC that they can come for another one because each card has a backup.
Yakubu explained that the new system makes accreditation easier as it takes just 26 seconds to accredit any voter to vote.
“Verification of voters is done either through finger print or facial. If the two failed the voter cannot vote. It takes 26 seconds to accredit a voter. If a voter wants to vote twice, there will be an alert.”
Shedding more light on the new voting process, the director of Information Communication Technology Mr. Paul Omokore said the usage of BVAS and IRS has been tested in some elections in Nigeria and it was very effective.
He therefore warned those stockpiling voters’ cards to desist from such acts because with the new voting system they won’t be able to use the stockpiled cards.
The Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner Mr. Olusegun Agbaje in his welcome address said there was the need for an interactive meeting with the media.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that, there is a very strong relationship between media performance and conduct or vibrancy of politics and political activities in a democracy,” he said.
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