{"id":66294,"date":"2019-04-17T16:01:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T15:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=66294"},"modified":"2019-04-17T16:01:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T15:01:33","slug":"inec-chairman-says-elections-in-nigeria-getting-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/inec-chairman-says-elections-in-nigeria-getting-better\/","title":{"rendered":"INEC Chairman Says Elections In Nigeria Getting Better"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral
\nCommission (INEC), says elections in Nigeria are “getting better”<\/p>\n

He stated this on Tuesday in Keffi, Nasarawa State at a dialogue organised
\nby the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
\n(ICPC), with the theme: ‘Anti-corruption Policy Dialogue on Eradicating
\nElectoral Corruption: Focus on Vote Buying’.<\/p>\n

According to Yakubu, the commission had put mechanisms in place to check
\npoliticians who intend to manipulate the process. He also stressed the
\nneed for the prosecution of sponsors of vote buying.<\/p>\n

Festus Okoye, National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter
\nEducation, who represented the INEC Chairman at the event, said: \u201cYou can
\nsee that our elections are getting better and the politicians are getting
\nmore desperate. And these accounts for some of the challenges we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is evident that the innovations and improvements in our electoral
\nprocesses since 2010 have somehow put a check on ballot box snatching,
\nballot box stuffing, multiple voting or falsification of results,
\ndiversion of election materials, hijack of election personnel,
\nfalsification of election results and violations of the electoral laws
\nhave become considerably addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs votes start to count, as the elections are determined solely by the
\nelectoral votes, politicians now go directly to the polling units to
\ninduce the voters. And I say that the votes are beginning to count.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoter inducement before and after voting is manifested in two ways. First
\nis the attempt by politicians and their agents to determine the choice of
\nvoters by offering them monetary or material rewards. Second is the
\nattempt by prospective voters to demand such gratification in order to
\nvote.<\/p>\n

\u201cINEC is concerned about the impact of vote buying and vote selling on our
\ndemocracy. Vote buying and selling is an illegal act. Sponsors of vote
\nbuying and selling must be brought to book and not only those that are
\ngiven instructions to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response to these challenges, INEC has adopted the following measures:
\nchanging and enhancing the secrecy of votes through polling unit
\nmanagement and locating the voting unit boxes outside for the view of
\nparty agents and the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the importance of the dialogue, he added: \u201cYou will recall that in my
\nspeech during the presentation of the certificate of return to the
\nPresident-elect and the Vice-President-elect on February 27, 2019, I
\nemphasized the need for a national dialogue on various aspects of our
\nelectoral democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, such a dialogue is required to nurture and sustain our democracy.
\nAnd it is my hope that this dialogue will be the beginning of concerted
\nefforts towards democratic consolidation in our dear country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of inducement to gather votes is an old and recurring practice
\nacross the world. Such inducements which are often deployed to influence
\nvoters on how they vote, range from money to material goods and defers
\nfrom one country to another. Items such as vehicle parts, chairs,
\nwristwatches, textile materials, shirts, buckets, cements, rice, and
\ncooking oil are used for inducement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedications and mobile phones have become ready currencies in the
\ntransactional relationships that have developed between the voters and the
\npolitical class. In recent times, the use of money to induce voters or to
\nbuy votes especially within the vicinity of polling units has come under
\nintense public scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgents of political parties now stand at strategic locations around our
\npolling units to see which party a voter has voted for, either directly or
\nthrough a picture of the marked ballot paper as evidence for payment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in Nigeria, 69 per cent of respondents acknowledged receiving money
\nor items such as rice, seasoning cubes, shirts, plastic buckets and
\ntextile materials in exchange for their votes in two governorship
\nelections in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, in one of the governorship elections and other subsequent
\nelections, such practices were referred to as stomach infrastructure. It
\nhas now become famous terminology in our political vocabulary. The way at
\nwhich this act has undertaken has turned our polling unites into trading
\ncenters and market places for buying and selling of votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Bolaji Owasanoye, the ICPC Chairman, said: \u201cThe lCPC looks
\nforward to collaboration with INEC to intensify enforcement of provisions
\nof the Electoral Act dealing with electoral offences. Only collaboration
\nwith INEC can remove the legal hamstring such as is found in section 149
\nand 150 of the Electoral Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says elections in Nigeria are “getting better” He stated this on Tuesday in Keffi, Nasarawa State at a dialogue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nINEC Chairman Says Elections In Nigeria Getting Better - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/inec-chairman-says-elections-in-nigeria-getting-better\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"INEC Chairman Says Elections In Nigeria Getting Better - 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