- Professor Mahmoof Yakubu discloses INEC is not officially aware of vacancies in the National Assembly
- Yakubu says the electoral umpire is awaiting a formal notification from the National Assembly
- He says states like Benue and Borno still have high number of registered voters despite security challenges in the areas
The chairman of the Independent National Election (INEC) Professor Mahmoof Yakubu, has said the agency was awaiting formal communication on the existing vacancies in the National Assembly (NASS).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yakubu disclosed this during an interaction with political editors of media organisations on Saturday, June 30, in Lagos.
The report quoted Yakubu as saying that the commission had five bye-elections to conduct, to fill the existing vacancies, but it was still awaiting official communication from the National Assembly to declare the seats vacant.
He said while the law compelled INEC to conduct bye-elections within stipulated time, it was the presiding officers of the National Assembly or state House of Assemblies that could declare any seat vacant.
“We have no any power to declare the seat of any lawmaker vacant.
“The moment the returning officers make announcement declaring a candidate winner, only the court of law can reverse it.
“We cannot declare vacancy and conduct bye-election unless there is a formal communication from the presiding officers of that Assembly.
“So this is not a matter under the control of the commission,” he said.
The report said Yakubu also disclosed that the commission had slightly redesigned its voter register to take care of incidence where the smart card readers could not read the fingerprints of the owner.
Concerning the challenge of insecurity and registration of voters, Yakubu said despite the security situation the commission had high number of registered voters in some states with challenges including Benue and Borno.
He said that was possible as it was easier to register people in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps than to register people who go individually to various registration units.
“Most interesting for me is that Benue has also recorded one of the highest numbers of registrants in the on-going CVR.
“What I find most reassuring in Benue is that in spite of the security challenge people are still interesting in voting," he said.
On INEC’s preparation for Ekiti governorship election scheduled for the July 14, Yakubu said that the commission was working with security agencies to have peaceful election.
He also revealed that a new design voter register with a provision for a column to take care of cases where the smart card reads could not read finger prints of the owner would be deployed for the election.
This according the Yakubu would speed up the voting process, compared to old system where people have to queue to fill a form, thereby delaying the process.
The chairman pledged that he would do whatever it takes to improve on the electoral process of the country to protect his name and reputation.
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“If there is anything I am going to leave INEC with is my reputation as academic. I am going back to my academic profession where I came from.
“So, whatever it takes to earn a good name for this country, for myself and my family I will do so.
“The only thing we have is our values and we work very hard to ensure that we leave with our values intact," he said.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that members of Bauchi South, Daura zone and Lokoja federal constituencies cried out recently over the National Assembly refusal to conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seats of lawmakers who died in office.
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Source: Naija.ng
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