INEC may register 80 more parties before 2019 —Chairman

The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Tuesday, stated that the commission has received about 80 more applications from various associations wanting to get registered as political parties ahead of 2019 general elections.

It will be recalled that the commission recently registered 21 more political parties, making it a total of 67 parties currently.

Delivering his keynote address at a Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, National Stakeholders Forum on elections supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID) in Abuja, the INEC Chairman noted that the commission would continue to register parties as long as they comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

Professor Yakubu, whose message was delivered by the National Commissioner, Dr Adekunle Ogunmola, lamented that the commission’s hands were tight to regulate it.

According to him, there is no way we can regulate it for now. We will continue to register them until the times stipulated by the constitutions for us to put a stop to it.

“We have been engaging with stakeholders on 2019 elections on the quarterly basis, the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), security agencies, various organizations even development partners to ensure that come 2019 we conduct credible elections. We will continue to seek collaboration with Nigerians and civil society organization”, he added.

Also speaking, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Idris Ibrahim, who was represented by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), Operations, Mr. Habila Joshak, said the input and contributions the institution received from the civil society has helped to share image and correct some of the things that the Police did.

“We are going to be very open and present security sector in terms of neutrality and standing in to ensure that the process is not truncated through violence in 2019 elections”, he assured.

In his welcome address, the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Mr. Clement Nwankwo said the centre would continue to work with the politicians to survive the process.

“The election process is the hand of the INEC, every other person is supposed to facilitate other networks including the security services, political parties, and civil society and once election commission is built with integrity, then this country will see improvement in the electoral process”, he stressed.