Urges party leaders to caution supporters over violence, hate speeches
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed disappointment over the lukewarm attitude of political parties in nominating agents for the November 11 off-cycle governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo States.
The commission also urged the party leaders participating in the elections to consider submission of names of agents as important as the nomination of candidates.
Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, dropped the hint in his remarks at a quarterly consultative meeting with leaders of political parties in Abuja on Tuesday.
He equally cautioned the party leaders to impress on their members, candidates and supporters to maintain peace during the campaign rallies and procession.
Giving update on the forthcoming poll, Yakubu said: “At the same time, political parties have uploaded the names of their polling and collation agents to the dedicated web portal.
“As I informed Nigerians at the meeting with our Resident Electoral Commissions (RECs) last week, a total of 137,934 agents made up of 130,093 polling and 7,841 collation agents have already been uploaded to the portal.
“However, not all the political parties have nominated agents for all the polling units and even the collation centres in the three states. In the next few days, the commission will publish the detailed distribution of agents uploaded by all political parties for public information. I urge you to consider the submission of names of agents as important as the nomination of candidates for election.
“I am glad to report that the printing of agents’ identity cards will be completed this weekend. This will allow political parties ample time to distribute the cards to their agents. All the identity cards are QR Code-readable to ensure maximum security and to avoid impersonation by unaccredited persons,” he noted.
Yakubu also decried the volume of legal challenges ahead of the poll, emphasising: “On the issue of candidature, the commission is concerned about the spate of recent judgements and orders of court in respect of the nomination, substitution or disqualification of candidates after all the sensitive materials have been printed.
“The reprinting of the materials in compliance with court orders within a short period of time is not only expensive but the management of the process very challenging.
“Although the commission has already published the final list of candidates for the three states, four recent court orders have compelled us to review the list. These changes have been reflected in the updated list of parties and candidates on our website. However, this decision is without prejudice to any pending appeal by the affected candidates or their political parties,” he said.
On the security concerns, Yakubu reiterated that: “As electioneering campaigns continue to intensify, the commission reiterates its concern about the spate of violence in the three states involving parties and candidates. “I wish to remind you as party leaders that free and fair elections are only possible in an atmosphere of peace. After all, election is a process involving human beings as voters, election officials, observers and the media whose safety is of paramount concern to us.
“While we will continue to work with the security agencies in this regard, political parties acting individually or collectively through the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) also have an obligation to impress on your members, candidates and supporters to maintain peace during the campaign rallies and procession. I urge you to also appeal to them to maintain the same disposition on Election Day and beyond,” he appealed.