SAN FRANCISCO, April 04, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has declared that the electoral body will never let the nation down in the conduct of all elections including the 2019 poll.
Yakubu made the disclosures at a Stakeholder Validation Conference on the 2017-2021 INEC Strategic Plan held in Abuja where he assured Nigerians that INEC will never take instruction from anybody.
He disclosed that while over 40 electoral offenders have been prosecuted, the commission has outstanding 100 case files with it for consideration adding that the 23 INEC staff indicted during the rerun legislative election in Rivers State had been placed on suspension.
He said a similar disciplinary action might be taken against 202 staff being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the N29billion poll bribery recorded during 2015 general last elections and regretted that political parties had been presenting criminals and certificate forgers as candidates.
“We will never take instruction from anybody. We will take our own decision and stand by the consequences of the decisions we take,” he declared.
“We have been learning lessons from the past elections and we will continue to do what we have been doing courageously while we learn from the past.
“We will continue to approach the conduct of election with honor and credibility. We will never, never let the country down.”
Defending INEC’s decision on Kogi State governorship election after the death of the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Abubakar Audu, Yakubu said the commission did not take any instruction from the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), as speculated.
“I have explained this over and over. Kogi was the first governorship election conducted by this new commission. It came less than two weeks after we were sworn in. It came with its own complication that challenged our own electoral jurisprudence.
“What happened in Kogi was not provided for in the constitution and in the Electoral Act and our guidelines. But we managed to do very well, specifically with our response, which some said came late (as it only came after a pronouncement by the Attorney General of the Federation) suggesting also the implication of the coincidence.
“The election was held on Saturday and was declared inconclusive on Sunday and the candidate also died on Sunday.”
