The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has announced that the Commission will take disciplinary action against its staff who were involved in sabotaging the Presidential and National Assembly elections. Speaking at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja, Yakubu emphasized the need to take measures to achieve a successful gubernatorial election and stated that any staff, including ad-hoc and collation personnel, who were involved in sabotaging the general elections, will face consequences.
In his speech on disciplinary action, Yakubu stated, “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. RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established.”
Yakubu also outlined plans for election day logistics and emphasized the importance of not centralizing the process, which resulted in delayed deployment of personnel and materials and late commencement of polls in some states during the last election. He stated that RECs will be held responsible for any tardy arrangement or failure to deploy electric power generators to collation centers or polling units where such facilities are needed. Yakubu noted that the Commission has enough facilities in all the states of the Federation, and failure to deploy them is simply inexcusable.
Furthermore, Yakubu addressed complaints that trailed the general elections and emphasized the importance of providing refresher training for ad-hoc staff who participated in the last election. He also stated that if these staff members are replaced for valid reasons, they must be appropriately trained to prevent delays or compromises during the electoral process. The Commission received reports from its State offices, as well as complaints and petitions from political parties and candidates following last week’s election, and Yakubu mentioned that if any violations are proven, redress will be made, but any action taken by the Commission will not affect the rights of parties and candidates to seek further remedy as provided by law.
Regarding election day technology, Yakubu announced that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) will once again be used for voter accreditation and result management. He noted that the deployment of BVAS has improved voter accreditation, as demonstrated by recent election results. Yakubu stated that the Commission has intensified the review of the technology to ensure that glitches experienced, particularly with the upload of results, are rectified. He expressed confidence that going forward, the system will run optimally.
