DEFECT AND LOSE YOUR SEAT, INEC TELLS LAWMAKERS

The Independent National Electoral Commission said it would not hesitate to invoke the relevant section of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) in the event of any lawmaker leaving the political party on which platform he/she was elected, before the expiration of the tenure.
There were rumours in some quarters that the crisis in some political parties might lead to some aggrieved lawmakers defecting to another political party to avoid being sanctioned for anti-party activities.
But Deputy Director, Public Affairs of INEC, Nick Dazang, said the constitution is clear on the position the commission will take in such situation. Quoting Section 109 (g) of the 1999 Constitution, Dazang said the provision is explicit on “what happens if one defects from one political party to another.”

GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS HOLD IN KOGI, NOVEMBER 21; BAYELSA, DECEMBER 5 2015

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the dates for the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.
A statement issued by the commission on Friday night said the governorship election in Kogi State would hold on Saturday, November 21, 2015 while that of Bayelsa State holds on Saturday, December 5, 2015.
According to the statement, campaigns by parties are to commence onJuly 24 and end on November 19 in Kogi State and will begin in Bayelsa State on September 6 and end on December 3.
Also, conduct of party primaries, according to INEC, is to hold betweenAugust 25 and September 15 in the case of Kogi and between September 7 and 30 in the case of Bayelsa.

WORRISOME LAPSES MARK INEC’S TEST OF CARD READERS

• Card Readers Fail To Recognise Fingerprints
• The Facts Have Spoken For Themselves – PDP
• Service Chiefs, INEC Assure Of No Further Postponement 
DESPITE the controversy over the deployment of electronic card reader machines for the conduct of the March 28 and April 11 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the electoral management body, yesterday, went ahead to test run the car readers in selected states, in order to ascertain the fitness of the machine for the election.
Reports from some of the states showed it was a mixed bag, as marginal success were recorded in some places and in in others, it was outright disappointment for prospective voters, whose fingerprints were not recognized by the machines. 

ANXIETY AS JEGA MEETS RECS WEDNESDAY

There were concerns in Abuja on Monday that some Resident Electoral Commissioners might pass a vote of no confidence in the Independent Electoral Commission Chairman, Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday.
Jega is expected meet with the RECs on the said date to assess the collection of Permanent Voter Cards by registered voters and the situation in communities recaptured from Boko Haram.
It was gathered that the no confidence vote might be a prelude to Jega’s removal by the Federal Government.
A top member of the commission, who confided in our correspondent, said the RECs that are backing the plot to remove Jega are known government apologists.
“The meeting on Wednesday is most likely to be stormy. I say this because some resident commissioners are plotting to move against our chairman. They may pass a no confidence vote in him. But the chairman enjoys strong backing in the commission. Any plan to pass a vote of no confidence in him will not work,” he said.

ALL PVCS READY NATIONWIDE -INEC

A few days to the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, said all eligible voters who could not collect their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) can now avail themselves, stating that the cards are ready for collection nationwide.
Indeed, prominent registered voters, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar,Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola and others, had at separate times complained about non-availability of their PVCs.
However, INEC yesterday allayed such fears, stressing that the challenge was a result of lost of data caused by some members of the commission.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Nick Dazang, who made the disclosure yesterday at a one-day workshop held for newsmen in Kaduna, explained that, “Initial lost of data led to loss of finger prints and that was why the Sultan of Sokoto, Governor Fashola of Lagos, others could not get their PVCs.
“What I know is that those whose data were lost and those who did the Continuous Voter Register (CVR), their cards are now ready. The attitude of some INEC staff led to loss of the data.”

FEBRUARY ELECTIONS: More problems for INEC

•Electoral body needs 960,000 ad hoc staff, yet to conclude recruitment, training
•We are ready for elections, commission insists
AGAINST the background of the controversy surrounding calls by some Nigerians that the February elections be postponed, investigations have shown that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may truly be grappling with more problems that can mar the conduct of the polls.
Sunday Tribune’s investigations revealed that less than two weeks to the elections, serious logistics issues within the commission’s operations are yet to be convincingly taken care of.

CERTIFICATES: WE CAN’T REJECT BUHARI –INEC

Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has ruled out rejecting the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, over the controversy trailing his certificates.
The commission said yesterday that it has no basis to object to the affidavit Buhari presented on the circumstances surrounding his certificates.
It said the commission lacks the mandate to screen or reject candidates, adding that its job was basically to display political parties’ candidates for claims and objections.
INEC however said that when there are objections, it will revert to the parties to address the situation.
Gen. Buhari had failed to submit his certificates and credentials to INEC on the ground that the documents were with the military authorities.

PVCS: INEC ADMITS FAILURE, APOLOGISES TO LAGOS GOVT

• Pledges to resolve issues before Dec 15
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has admitted its failure in the distribution of permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) in different parts of the country.
It apologised to the Lagos State Government for the irregular process.
The electoral umpire then pledged to resolve all issues of PVCs in the state and other states of the federation before December 15 with a view to conducting free and fair general election starting from February 2015.
The commission’s high-powered team led by a National Commissioner, Ambassador Lawrence Nwurukwu, expressed regrets over the protracted anomalies recorded in the distribution of PVCs during a close-door meeting with Governor Babatunde Fashola in Lagos House, Ikeja on Tuesday.

INEC EXTENDS VOTERS’ REGISTRATION EXERCISE IN LAGOS, FIVE OTHERS

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Sunday announced the extension of the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise in six States where it commenced on November 12.
A statement issued Sunday by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said the INEC has approvedd a two-day extension of the exercise in all states under the third phase of the exercise except Adamawa.
Idowu, who listed the affected states as Kano, Edo, Plateau, Ogun, Imo and Lagos, noted that the exercise would now end on November 19.
The compassion experienced so many hitches with most of the data capturing machine in the affected states faulty, necessitating calls for extension or outright cancellation by stakeholders.

INEC HAS NO HIDDEN AGENDA IN MORE POLLING UNITS, SAYS JEGA

• Declares policy not yet implemented, insists 2015 polls will be better 
• Explains how troops’ deployment helped elections in Osun, Ekiti 
IN a fresh defence of the policies of his agency, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, Wednesday declared that there was no hidden agenda in thecreation of 30,000 additional polling units.
He said that the commission’s decision to re-configure the structure of the polling units as well as create additional ones was driven by collective aspirations of Nigerians to improve upon the electoral process for free, peaceful and credible elections in 2015 and beyond.
“There is no sectional or parochial agenda in this decision. It is to decongest over-crowded polling units and disperse as evenly as possible among all the polling units. To locate polling units more effectively within commuting distances of voters, given that movement is usually restricted on election day. We are creating additional polling units to cater for the splitting of large polling units as well as new settlements not serviced by any existing polling units.”

NORTH/SOUTH DIVISION TEARS INEC APART

30,000 PUs: Jega, commissioners’ stormy meetings
If there were doubts as to he real intentions behind the determination of Professor Attahiru Jega, National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to foist on Nigeria an electoral process that gives unparalleled advantage to his northern part of the country through the instrumentality of a lopsided allocation of some 21,000 Polling Units, PUs, as against slightly over 8,000 PUs for the states of the South, the doubts disappeared at his ast week’s meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs.
At that meeting, like a “pulpit bully”, and against convention where decisions at INEC are reached through consensus, Jega insisted that RECs should be involved in the admittedly primitive mode of open voting on a matter that was as controversial as PUs allocation.
This report presents Jega’s systematic approach to see through his scheme, starting with his attempt at power mongering.

2015: LAGOS, OGUN, OTHERS TO GET PERMANENT VOTER CARDS ON NOV. 7

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said that the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) will resume in 13 states of the federation between 7-9 November.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, INEC also said that there would be Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in the affected states from 13 to 17 November.
According to the statement, the affected states are to be covered under phase three of the exercise.
It listed the states as Adamawa, Borno, Edo, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Plateau and Rivers.
The commission advised voters in the states to check their names in the displayed voters’ registers as only those with Permanent Voter Cards would be allowed to vote during the 2015 general elections.

POLLING UNITS’ ALLOCATION: JEGA’S NORTHERN AGENDA FINALLY UNCOVERED!

INEC Chairman insists on favouring the North
Why National Assembly must understand the issues and not be taken for a ride
Vanguard report
In this piece, which is a continuation of the national service to ensure that Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and its national chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, do not surreptitiously engender a policy that deliberately hands numerical superiority of Polling Units, PUs, which Nigeria’s Supreme Court described as “roots which nourish the whole electoral process”, to the North, further investigations have uncovered the details of the warped allocation process.
Mercifully, Jega’s visit to the National Assembly ended on a note that senators would study the figures and make up their minds. Yet, every explanation by Jega has blind-sided the real issues and further exposed the real and perceived under-pining raison d’etre for the lopsided allocation.

POLLING UNITS’ SCANDAL: JEGA’S THEORY AND THE DANGERS AHEAD

Figures do not lie
The attempt, last Wednesday, by Professor Attahiru Jega, National Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to explain away the inherent incongruity in allocating Polling Units, PUs, to states of the federation with less probability of having more voting population, an exercise that should have been carried out relying on field data, only served to further pour cold water on the Chairman of Nigeria’s election management body.
This report will show that based on figures exclusively gotten from the Commission, the less-than-academic explanation of why INEC did what it did falls flat in the face of common sense and reality.

VOTERS WITHOUT PERMANENT CARDS WON’T VOTE IN 2015 – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday in Abuja said that voters who did not collect their Permanent Voter Cards by December 2014, “would be disenfranchised in the 2015 general elections.”
The commission also called on Nigerians not to lose hope in its ability to deliver free, fair and credible elections in 2015.
The Director of Voter Registry in INEC, Mr. Emmanuel Akem; Director (Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and CSOs), Mr. Oluwole Uzzi; and the commission’s Head of Department (FCT Voter Education), Mr. Okezie Nwankwo, made the appeal during a one-day Town Hall meeting on the continuous voter registration and distribution of Permanent Voters Cards.
The event was jointly organised by the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement, Centre for Democracy and Development, McArthur Foundation and Open Society Initiative for West Africa.

JEGA SUPPORTS USE OF MILITARY IN ELECTIONS

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday defended the use of military personnel in the conduct of elections in Nigeria, saying they provide security to officials of the commission and the voters.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had recently approached the court, seeking an order restraining the Federal Government from deploying military personnel for the conduct of governorship election in Osun next month.
Jega who spoke at an interactive session with news managers in Abuja, disagreed with people who said the deployment of soldiers in Ekiti State during the June 21 governorship amount to militarisation.
According to him, while he was adverse to military rule in the country, he was in support of the role the military has played so far in ensuring that voters are encouraged to come out and vote, and accused some politicians of creating excuses to undermine the electoral process.

WHY WE REMOVED OSUN REC —INEC • AS AGBAJE TAKES OVER

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, said that the former Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ambassador Rufus Akeju, was removed from office because of the barrage of allegations made against him by some key stakeholders in the state ahead its August 9 governorship election.
Speaking at a media workshop in Kaduna, on Wednesday, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the commission, Mr Nick Dazang, who confirmed the removal of Akeju, disclosed that the removal was formally approved after INEC’s executive meeting in Abuja.

IT’S DECISION DAY IN EKITI

Fayemi, Fayose in battle royal
. Police deploy 12,000; IGP vows to deal with trouble makers
. 8433 INEC staff for poll
After weeks of intense campaign that occasionally turned murky, thousands of voters will today troop out across Ekiti State to elect a governor among the 18 candidates jostling for the position.
Determined to make the Ekiti governorship election one of the best, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deployed a total of 8,433 staff to conduct the election.
About 12,000 policemen are providing security for the election while hundreds of soldiers have also been deployed to ensure that the election is hitch free.
In practical terms, today’s contest is expected to be a straight fight between two candidates – incumbent governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress and Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Independent National Electoral Commission spent most of yesterday moving both sensitive and non-sensitive materials to electoral offices in all the local government areas of the state.

JEGA LEADS SIX INEC COMMISSIONERS TO CONDUCT EKITI GOV POLLS

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that its Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, will personally lead a team of the commission’s top hierarchy to conduct the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State.
INEC stated that Jega would be accompanied to Ekiti State by six national commissioners of INEC, supported by all the Resident Electoral Commissioners in the neighbouring states to Ekiti.
Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Alilu Pai, made the disclosure on yesterday while hosting a non-governmental organisation.
Pai observed that Jega’s decision to be in the state for the election was borne out of his commitment to a thorough exercise.

INEC COMMISSIONERS DIVIDED OVER OSUN REC

The decision of the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, to retain the Osun State Resident Electoral Commisioner, Mr Taiwo Akeju, ahead of August 9th election has split the commission into camps with top officials pointing the finger at one another over the developmemt.
Reports from within the commission indicated that at its recent meeting, suggestions by three of the six commissioners to raise the issue was stopped by the commission’s chairman and another commissioner representing South West in INEC. Jega was quoted as having told the meeting that his decision on the Osun REC should not be questioned, a position reportedly backed by one of the commissioners.