In light of recent allegations from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has announced its readiness to effectively coordinate and oversee the upcoming Presidential elections scheduled for February 16.
The former president, while addressing journalists at a press conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, read a 16-paged open letter titled: “Points for Concern and Action,” where he took shots at the current administration. In the letter, he attacked Vice President Osinbajo, the face of the ongoing TraderMoni scheme, and made a less than savoury comparison between incumbent President Buhari and former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Additionally, he alleged that the electoral body’s hands are tied in terms of election rigging on the part of the ruling All Progressive Party (APC), questioning the credibility of the Commission.
Obasanjo stated that the elections might fall prey to “incidences of deliberately contrived, broken or non-working voting machines or card readers, confusion of voters as to their voting stations, inadequate supply of voting materials to designated places, long lines to discourage voters and turning blind eyes to favour the blue-eye political party of INEC because the Commission’s hands will be tied to enable hatchet men and women to perform their unwholesome assignment.”
While visiting the new Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu on Tuesday, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu declared that the Commission was efficient enough to handle the election and all potential hurdles that might show up during the polls.
Yakubu reiterated that the Commission had every intention of remaining non-partisan, and was not under any pressure from anyone to rig or tamper with the election process and result transmission.
“I want to tell you that we, as a commission, have never been under any pressure to do what is wrong.”
“We will never compromise our integrity to do what the law says that we shouldn’t and for 2019 general elections, I want to assure and reassure Nigerians that votes and nothing but votes will count.”
The Commission’s Chairman also called for cooperation from the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies set to help in the electoral process.
Highlighting the intensity of the elections this year, Yakubu stated: “We have the largest number of political parties contesting for the 2019 elections. We have the largest number of registered voters participating in the elections and we have the largest number of constituencies in which elections will be conducted. So, we have to safeguard the processes such that what Nigerians vote for is what determines who wins the elections. So, there is need for us to work very closely at all levels during the elections. There is a need for professionalism and we must turn a new leaf.”
Following a briefing during the National Council of State meeting which saw the Chairman brief the President alongside former presidents Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan amongst other members of the council, President Muhammadu Buhari has also expressed confidence in the Commission’s readiness for the general elections.
The Presidential and Senatorial elections are scheduled for February 16, while other positions are to be contested in March.
