Underage voting: Kano electoral commission didn’t accredit voters —INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dissociated itself from the alleged underage voting in the recent Kano local government election.

Following public outcry over video of underaged thumbprint of ballot papers that went viral on social media, the national chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu,  on February 21, inaugurated a committee, led by Mr Abubakar Nahuce, to investigate the incident. The committee submitted its report last month.

Unveiling the Nahuce-led committee report on Friday, Professor Yakubu told newsmen that his commission’s findings revealed that the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission, (KANSEC) did not use its Voter’s Register while “accreditation using the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) largely did not take place.”

Yakubu further insisted that since the KANSIEC did not use INEC voter’s register, it was wrong to assume that there were names of ineligible voters on its register.

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He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, let me emphasise first, that INEC was not in any way involved in organising the Kano State Local Government election beyond the legal requirement that the register of voters compiled by INEC should be used in all local government elections nationwide.

“The conduct of that election was entirely the responsibility of KANSIEC. Secondly, let me also emphasise that the investigation committee was not inaugurated to inquire into the general conduct of the Kano State Local Government election or to inquire into the organisation or challenges of KANSIEC.

“Indeed, INEC has no legal remit to do so. Rather, as the Terms of Reference of the committee show, its role was strictly to inquire into claims linking the register of voters compiled by INEC and the alleged incidents of underaged voting in the election.

“Kano State Independent Electoral Commission requested for and received from INEC the Kano State Register of Voters for the election. The register was produced for use for the elections.

However, the register was only sighted in a few polling units. In other words, the register was not used in most of the polling units. In fact, accreditation using the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) largely did not take place.

“Given that the register was substantially not used to accredit voters before voting, it is logical to conclude that if underaged voting occurred in the election, it was not due to any presence of underaged registrants on the register.

“However, after examining some of the images in circulation, the committee found that they have been available long before the Kano Local Government elections. The few images and video clips from Kano show no accreditation of voters or any relationship with the register of voters.”

The INEC chairman cautioned political parties to stop casting aspersion on the integrity of the INEC Voter’s Register.

Speaking on the cost incurred by INEC, on failed attempt to recall the embattled senator representing Kogi west,  Dino Melaye, Professor Yakubu disclosed that about N100 million was spent by the commission.

He said: “The cost was a little over N100 million, not N1 billion. A substantial part of it went to payment of adhoc staff.”