By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Barely two weeks to the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo States, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has expressed concerns over the spate of recent judgements and orders of court in respect of the nomination, substitution or disqualification of candidates after all the sensitive materials have been printed.
The Commission has similarly reiterated its concern about the spate of violence in the three States involving parties and candidates.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu expressed the concerns at the quarterly consultative meeting he held with leaders of the registered political parties at the commission’s headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja.
Prof Yakubu pointed out that the reprinting of the materials in compliance with court orders, within a short period of time, is not only expensive but the management of the process very challenging.
The INEC Chairman particularly expressed the commission’s concern about the spate of violence in the three States involving parties and candidates.
He reminded the leaders of the various political parties that free and fair elections are only possible in an atmosphere of peace.
His words, “On the issue of candidature, the Commission is concerned about the spate of recent judgements and orders of court in respect of the nomination, substitution or disqualification of candidates after all the sensitive materials have been printed.
“The reprinting of the materials in compliance with court orders within a short period of time is not only expensive but the management of the process very challenging.
“Although the Commission has already published the final list of candidates for the three States, four recent court orders have compelled us to review the list. “These changes have been reflected in the updated list of parties and candidates on our website.
“However, this decision is without prejudice to any pending appeal by the affected candidates or their political parties”, he said.
Continuing, the INEC Chairman said, “As electioneering campaigns continue to intensify, the Commission reiterates its concern about the spate of violence in the three States involving parties and candidates.
“I wish to remind you as party leaders that free and fair elections are only possible in an atmosphere of peace.
“After all, election is a process involving human beings as voters, election officials, observers and the media whose safety is of paramount concern to us.
“While we will continue to work with the security agencies in this regard, political parties acting individually or collectively through the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) also have an obligation to impress on your members, candidates and supporters to maintain peace during the campaign rallies and procession.
“I urge you to also appeal to them to maintain the same disposition on Election Day and beyond”, he admonished.
Speaking about the various efforts already made ahead of the governorship elections in the three States, Prof Yakubu said, ‘”the Commission has delivered all non-sensitive materials for the elections to the three States.
“The training of various categories of ad hoc staff is ongoing.
“We have made the soft copies of the complete register of voters available to all political parties participating in the elections.
“We conducted the mock accreditation of voters and the upload of results to our IReV portal using the BVAS.
“Stakeholder engagements are ongoing. “Our State offices have concluded the readiness assessment of our facilities as well as the movement of critical facilities to our 56 Local Government offices across the three States.
“At the same time, political parties have uploaded the names of their polling and collation agents to the dedicated web portal”, he stated.
