Speaking at the unveiling of a central election monitoring hub for Civil Society Organisations,
On Wednesday in Abuja, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, expressed the readiness of
INEC to conduct the most credible elections in the history of Nigeria.
Prof. Yakubu, who was represented by one of his National Commissioners, Mr. Festus Okoye,
noted that fire outbreaks that gutted election materials in three of its offices across the federation,
constituted a set-back to its earlier arrangements for a smooth conduct of the 2019 polls.
However, he insisted that the set-back was not such that could significantly affect the election
process, saying the commission had since made alternative plans to replace over 4, 695 Card
Readers that were destroyed on Tuesday at INEC’s warehouse in Anambra State.
He said the commission would not postpone the impending elections for any reason.
“INEC will be open and transparent throughout the entire election process. We are going to be
upfront with information relating to our processes and our procedures.
Where ever we have challenges, we are going to be honest with the Nigerian people relating to
our challenges.
“In relation to this particular elections, we had some challenges yesterday (Tuesday), but we were
able to recover, and as I speak, we are moving all the Smart Card Readers required for the
conduct of elections in Anambra State and we are not going to postpone the election in any
part of Nigeria on grounds of some of these challenges
“As some of you are aware, this election will be conducted in over 120,000 polling units, and we
also have over 50, 000 voting points. The voting points were created to ease the process of
voting, especially for the Nigerian people,“ he said.
On the role of the military in the election, he explained that the Electoral Act was amended in 2015
to give INEC specific functions in relation to deployment of the Nigerian Police Force and the
military in elections.
“For this election, we are utilizing the services of the Nigerian Air Force in lifting sensitive materials
like ballot papers and result sheets to the various states and to the various Central Banks and they
are also lifting sensitive materials to difficult terrains.
“Likewise, for the riverine areas, INEC will hire gun boats that will escort both the sensitive materials
and the election personnel.
According to him, the gunboats will be in the front and back to protect some of the young people
that are going to be engaged in this elections.
“That will be the extent to which we are going to use the Nigerian military for the purpose of this
Election,” he said.
He, however, enjoined observers to give accurate report of the elections.
In her speech at the event, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, said the
United Kingdom would not hesitate to take stern actions against anyone found to have instigated
violence in any part of the country during the elections.
She noted that the UK government had earlier issued a statement to remind all the political actors
about its visa policies.
“Anyone who is found to incite violence or encourage violence could be subject to visa ban or have
their assets seized, and in the worst case scenario, face prosecution,” Laing added.
Earlier in his remarks, the convener of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room and Executive
Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Center, (PLAC), Mr.Clement Nwankwo, stressed the
need for security agencies to adopt a non partisan stance throughout the elections.
He urged the foreign election observers to disregard the “body bags” comment of the Governor
of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and berated Federal Government over its failure to
denounce and distance itself from El-Rufai’s position.
Local media reports said that the events was attended the Ambassador of the United States of
America, Mr. Stuart Symington, and representative of the United Nations, Mr. Mohamed Ibn
Chambas.
The monitoring centre, which is situated at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, will be manned by the
Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room and foreign election observation groups.