The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has vowed to punish its officials, including ad-hoc or collation personnel, who may have with illegal means conducted the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
Recall there are complaints from several quarters alleging that quite a number of INEC officials across States of the Federation are culprits of election malpractice. In that light, INEC reacted.
Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC’s chairman, revealed this on Saturday in Abuja at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECS) to review performances at the last week’s elections.
His words: “As we approach the Governorship and State Assembly elections, we must work harder to overcome the challenges experienced in the last election. Nothing else will be acceptable to Nigerians.
“All staff found to be negligent, whether they are regular or ad hoc officials, including Collation and Returning Officers, must not be involved in forthcoming elections.
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“RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established.”
Yakubu also assured Nigerians that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will be used in the forthcoming governorship and state legislature elections.
He confirmed that the BVAS machines are being worked on to avoid a repeat of the glitches recorded during the presidential and national assembly elections.
The INEC boss however mentioned that there are lessons to be learnt from last week’s elections, especially as it relates to logistics management.
