ABUJA – Senate of the Federal Republic yesterday, confirmed presidential nominees for the positions of Chairman and Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Those confirmed included Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (Bauchi), as chairman; and Dr. Mohammed Mustapha Lecky (Edo), Alh. Ban Shettima Arfo (Borno), Prof. Antonia Taiye Afolabi Simbine (Kogi), Amina Zakari (Jigawa), and Mr. Soyebi Adedeji Solomon respectively as Commissioners.
Fielding questions earlier at the screening, Prof. Yakubu sounded that no person could intimidate him in his duties for Nigeria and vowed to continue with the reforms already introduced to the country’s electoral system.
“I cannot be intimidated!; in the service of this country, I can’t!; it is too late!; I have the character, I have the temperament, to do the right thing!”, he sounded.
Speaking on his resolve to inject high sense of discipline into the country’s electoral management, the nominee asserted that “the character of workers that work under you, is a direct reflection of the character of their boss”, and vowed “no election under my watch shall be won and lost at the INEC headquarters”.
He regretted that 50 per cent of INEC offices were yet under rent, and canvassed provision of permanent accommodations for all INEC offices, nation-wide, as it would enhance their performance.
The newly confirmed INEC boss further observed what he described as “short”, the period within which candidates were nominated to contest for elections, and promised consulting with Political Parties with a view to forwarding Bills for necessary amendments to the Electoral Act.
He also spoke on diaspora voting which is currently not provided for in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) and the high cost of obtaining nomination forms from political parties which, he observed, was partly responsible for high cost of electoral processes to the individual.
To this end, Prof. Yakubu charged the National Assembly to come up with relevant amendments to the Constitution and the Electoral Acts to mitigate the problems.
Moreso, the newly confirmed INEC chairman asserted the electronic voting “is desirable and inevitable; however, experience of other nations means that we have to thread carefully.
“We are battling with the problem of infrastructure; there must be no room for experimentation; something happened in 2015, we are to consolidate on that; we are going to consider the workability of the technology and consultation with stakeholders.
With the Card Readers, we can accredit and vote instantly; Jega has done well, I am not coming in for experimentation, I am coming in for consolidation”, he stressed.
He also promised correcting observed discrepancies in Voters Cards (VCs) distribution in the 2015 general elections, noting that, out of the 70 millions registered voters, 56.6 millions VCs were distributed, while 12.3 million were not distributed, and 500,000 were not produced at all.
“I wish to complete this, and then be faced with new ones that have come of voting age; I will ensure that every Nigerian gets the Permanent Voter Card (PVC); life is about learning from experience of the past, 2015 is going to be different from 2019”, he added.
The other nominees in their respective turns, chorused the need to emphasize on electronic voting to inject credibility and transparency into Nigeria’s electoral system.
