Yakubu
By Hassan John
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed determination to resolve and address the challenges it identified during the presidential election.
Speaking at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja on Friday, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said that they have learnt a lot of lessons from the presidential election.
According to him: “A lot of lessons have been learnt. Of immediate concern to the Commission is how the identified challenges can be addressed as we approach the concluding phase of the General Election involving the largest number of constituencies i.e. 28 State Governorship elections and 993 State Houses of Assembly seats.”
The INEC Chairman explained that in the February 25 elections, winners have also been declared for 423 national legislative seats while supplementary elections will be held in 46 constituencies.
“In the Senate, 98 out of 109 seats have been declared. So far, seven political parties have won senatorial seats while in the House of Representatives, 325 out of 360 seats have been won by eight political parties.
“In terms of party representation, this is the most diverse national assembly since 1999, as according to him, in the Senatorial seats, APC got 57, APGA 1, LP 6, NNPP 2, PDP 29, YPP 1 and SDP 2.
On the House of Representative result, he said, ADC got 2, APC 162, APGA 4, LP 34, NNPP 18, SDP 2, YPP 1and PDP 102.
Prof Yakubu further disclosed that Certificates of Return will be presented to Senators-elect on Tuesday March 7, 2023 at 11.00am at the National Collation Centre (the International Conference Centre), Abuja, while Members of the House of Representatives-elect will receive theirs the following day, Wednesday 8th March 2023, at 11.00am at the same venue.
“However, for effective crowd management, each Senator/Member-elect should be accompanied by a maximum of two guests. The comprehensive list of all members-elect will be uploaded to the Commission’s website shortly,” he said.
In order to correct the ills and shortcomings that were identified during the Presidential election, the INEC Chairman charged the resident electoral commissioners saying: “As we approach the Governorship and State Assembly elections, we must work harder to overcome the challenges experienced in the last election.
“Nothing else will be acceptable to Nigerians. All staff found to be negligent, whether they are regular or ad hoc officials, including Collation and Returning Officers, must not be involved in forthcoming elections. RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established.
“Election Day logistics must be finalised days before the election and handled by the Electoral Officers (EOs) at Local Government level. This has been our standard practice.
“Centralising the process as was done in some States resulted in delayed deployment of personnel and materials and late commencement of polls.
“RECs will be held responsible for any tardy arrangement or the failure to deploy electric power generators to collation centres or polling units where such facilities are needed. The Commission has enough facilities in all the States of the Federation. Failure to deploy them is simply inexcusable.”
