“We have gone really far with this. If tomorrow the bill is assented to, there are provisions that we can immediately implement but there are provisions that we cannot implement simply because of time. For instance, full blown electronic voting. It is impossible within the time-frame available which is 112 days.
We have been working closely with the National Assembly and many of the new provisions passed in the bill were actually based on our recommendations. We prepared ourselves in such a way that in case some of the provisions become law, we would have no difficulty in implementing them,” said INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. He said only 79 out of the 89 political parties participating in the elections had presidential candidates. Nigeria currently has 91 registered political parties. Prof. Yakubu who announced this while giving an update on the nationwide ongoing publication of details of candidates for the next general elections, noted that while 1,803 candidates would vie for the 109 seats in the Senate, 4, 548 would be vying for the 360 House of Representatives seats. According to him, the commission would between 6th and 12th November, publish the National Register of Voters nationwide to allow Nigerians file claims and objections in line with Section 20 of the Electoral Act as amended.
Meanwhile, INEC has disclosed that it did not receive any list of candidates from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for Zamfara state. The Commission had earlier barred the ruling party from fielding candidates for elections in the state, having run foul of the guidelines for the conduct of political party primaries. He said although the matter had become a subject of three lawsuits, the commission would await the outcome of the judgements before taking any further decision on the matter. “INEC did not receive any submission of candidates of APC from Zamfara state. Beyond that, I won’t say more because the matter is in court. Once a matter is in court, by our culture, you do not comment on it. There are three cases on the matter. So, we will wait for the court to determine,” he explained. On the disqualification of APC from fielding candidates in Rivers state, INEC Chairman said the commission was waiting for details of the apex court ruling before determining its next line of action. He said further: “I wish to provide further clarification on the ongoing publication of the personal particulars of candidates. Each candidate nominated by a political party is required to provide details of his/her personal particulars by personally completing the form CF001 and to swear an affidavit at the Federal High Court, a High Court of a State or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Within seven (7) days from the close of submission of these documents, the Commission is required to publish the form in the constituencies that candidates seek to represent as required by Section 31(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). This will give the general public the opportunity to view the affidavit of personal particulars of those who aspire to represent them. Any person with reasonable ground to believe that any information on form CF001 submitted by a candidate contains incorrect or false claims is at liberty to file an action against such candidate at the Federal High Court or the High Court of a State or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). While the current exercise is limited to candidates for presidential and National Assembly elections, the personal particulars of those contesting in Governorship and State Assembly elections will be similarly published on November 9,2018, one week after the close of submission of nominations by political parties. “I wish to appeal to the general public to seize this opportunity to view the personal details of the candidates that seek to represent them. The forms, as completed on oath by the candidates and submitted to the Commission by their political parties, are photocopied and pasted in our State and Local Government offices nationwide. This is an opportunity for citizens to ascertain the personal details of the candidates to enable them take informed decisions on election day or even initiate legal action against candidates who they believe have made false claims on their forms.
Still as part of the ongoing preparations for the 2019 general elections, I wish to announce in advance that the register of voters for each polling unit will be displayed at the polling units nationwide for one week from November 6 to12, 2018, for claims and objections by citizens in accordance with the provision of Section 20 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). “Although the Commission has dutifully cleaned up the register using the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS); it is the right of citizens under the law to examine the register and exercise their civic duty by drawing the attention of the Commission to the prevalence of any ineligible persons so that together we can further clean it up. For emphasis, eligibility to register and vote in Nigeria is open only to citizens who have attained the mandatory age of eighteen (18) years and resident in the places they registered. Such citizens must also not register more than once. The Commission will also appreciate the assistance of citizens in identifying deceased persons on the register so that such names can be nulled from our record. It is also an opportunity to correct misspellings of personal details such as names, age and gender. “I wish to once again place on record that the voter register is robust. It is also the largest data base of citizens in Nigeria containing names, photographs and biometric details. It is a national asset that should be protected and perfected. Ownership of the register by citizens and their involvement in cleaning it up is crucial to our electoral process. I urge citizens to help the Commission during the display. Full details of the procedure for collecting citizens’ observations will be released shortly
New Bye-elections “Recently, the Commission received declaration of vacancies that require us to conduct bye-elections. Following the election of two serving members of the House of Representatives as Senators in bye-elections conducted on 11 August 2018, the Honourable Speaker has declared consequential vacancies in the Toro Federal Constituency in Bauchi State and the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa Federal Constituency in Katsina State. Similarly, the Cross River State House of Assembly has declared vacancy in Ikom II State Constituency following the death of the member representing the Constituency. Consequently, the Commission will conduct bye-elections in the three (3) constituencies. We have directed our Resident Electoral Commissioners in Bauchi, Katsina and Cross River States to convene stakeholders meetings immediately and prepare for the bye-elections latest by Saturday 17th November 2018. Detailed timetable and schedule of activities for the bye-elections will be released on Tuesday next week. “The Commission wishes to reassure Nigerians that preparations for the 2019 General Elections are proceeding in earnest and according to the detailed timetable and schedule of activities released by the Commission. It is exactly 112 days to the elections. We shall continue to faithfully and consistently implement the timetable and other activities ", he added.
Source: Vanguard
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