THE Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has vowed to punish its officials, including ad-hoc or collation personnel, who may have been found wanting in the conduct of the 25th February Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
Professor Yakubu stated this at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs). According to him, “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.”
The conduct of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections has been condemned by local and international observers. According to them, the exercise falls below international as it was fraught with cases of result falsification, voter intimidation, ballot box snatching, vote-buying, etc. At least, two presidential candidates, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) are challenging the outcome of the exercise at the election petition tribunal.