Ahead of Saturday’s Off-Cycle Governorship Elections in three states of Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has warned electoral officers to desist from being partisan and allow the will of the people to prevail.
In a statement on Thursday, Mahmood said the electoral umpire, being non-partisan, has no preferred candidate; hence, the need for electoral officers deployed to exercise a high level of patriotism and professionalism.
He added that their responsibility was to safeguard the process and ensure a level playing ground for all parties.
According to him, the election results would be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, saying despite the difficult terrain of the states, arrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable early commencement of the voting process.
“As we approach the election day, I wish to call on our officials (both regular and ad-hoc) to demonstrate the highest level of patriotism and professionalism. As I said repeatedly, not least during my recent readiness assessment visits to the three States, INEC is not a political party, and we have no candidate in the election”.
“Our responsibility is to safeguard the process and ensure a level playing field for all political parties and candidates. The choice of who becomes the Governor of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States is entirely in the hands of voters”, he said.
On the level of preparedness for the success of the elections, Mahmood said they have delivered all sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the elections, maintaining that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been configured for deployment to Polling Units and that the only means of voter verification and fingerprint/facial biometric authentication of voters.
“Polling Unit results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. All election duty officials have been trained. Arrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable us commence voting on schedule. In spite of the extremely difficult terrain and physical infrastructure in some locations, we are determined to ensure that our officials are there waiting for voters rather than the voters waiting for our arrival”, he added.
The INEC Chairman further said the Commission had deployed two (2) National Commissioners, nine (9) Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), and Administrative Secretaries (ASs) as well as additional staff from different States to each of the three States to support the process, saying the electoral officers “will be deployed across the senatorial zones in the States.”
He maintained that election is a multi-stakeholder responsibility.
According to him, the security agencies have assured the safety of electoral officers and the environment, adding that political parties and their candidates in the affected states have also signed a peace pact.
“As with every election, lessons have been learned from recent elections. We will continue to ensure free, fair, credible, and inclusive elections, but INEC cannot do it alone. We have received assurances from the security agencies that the environment will be secure for electoral activities and all participants: voters, electoral officials, accredited observers, the media, and polling/collation agents.”
“Political parties and candidates have signed the peace accord under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC). Let us maintain the peace and play our roles conscientiously. By doing so, we shall continue consolidating our democracy,” he said.
The WikkiTimes gathered that about 5,169,692 Nigerians who collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are expected to vote in off-cycle Governorship elections, which is the first time in Nigeria’s history that these elections are held on the same day and across three geo-political zones of the country: North Central (Kogi), South East (Imo) and South-South (Bayelsa).
