The national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) Professor Mahmoud Yakubu has again restated the resolve of his Commission to get to the root of recent incidents of underage voting in Kano and Katsina states during the conduct of local councils elections in the two states.
Addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, Professor Yakubu assured Nigerians of his Commission sincerity to tidy the Voters register before the 2019 general elections and remove names of ineligible voters.
He further noted that the credibility of the electoral process depends on voters register.
He said: ” We know the credibility of elections is tied to voters register. We shall do the needful to ensure that only those eligible are allowed to vote. We are interested in knowing what happened in Kano.Please, let us be patient. Take it from INEC that whatever is needed to clean up the register, we shall do. ”
On the National Assembly resolution to change the order of the 2019 general elections, Professor Yakubu insisted that INEC would stick to its earlier position to conduct Presidential and National Assembly elections before elections into state assemblies and governorship.
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Recall that in the amendment passed by the National Assembly, the order was reversed for the presidential elections to be the last to be held But Professor Yakubu submitted that the existing provisions of the Electoral Act were clear on the agency statutorily empowered to give dates for elections.
“We are dealing with certainty, what we have done is on the side of existing laws. There is no lacuna. The Electoral Act, 2010 as amended hasn’t been repealed. It is still the law. So, there is no lacuna. If something happens tomorrow, then we look at it and act accordingly.”
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