The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is to set up an investigative team made up of a National Commissioner and some Resident Electoral Commissioners to probe allegations of under-aged voting during the recent local government elections in Kano State.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, also said the commission would go further to probe the entire voters’ registers nationwide ahead of the 2019 general election. He spoke in Lagos during the 2019 Election Project Plan Implementation Workshop organised by the commission.
It would be recalled that some images of underage voters had gone viral during last Saturday’s LG election in Kano.
The INEC chairman said the commission was concerned about the allegations, and confirmed that the state electoral commission requested for a copy of the voter’s register which INEC made available to it.
According to him, the voter’s register used in 2015 election has not changed and it was the same register used during the Minjibir state constituency bye election in July, 2016.
“That election was conducted by INEC and there wasn’t a single case of underage persons voting in that election. So we are concerned, what happened to the local government election conducted by the State Independent Electoral Commission? Was the voters’ register used or not?” he said.
On the decision of the National Assembly to amend the order of election, Yakubu said the commission stands by the earlier timetable released, until the bill becomes a law.
“As far as the commission is concerned, the time table and schedule of election released by the commission on the 3rd of January was done within the powers of the commission under the law and nothing has changed,” he added.
On the ongoing continuous voters registration, the INEC chairman said, “I am glad to tell you that from July to December, 2017, some 3,978,682 citizens were registered afresh nationwide.”
On state-by-state registration, he said Rivers tops the list of fresh registrants, followed by Lagos and Delta. He noted however that Kwara, Gombe and Ondo states have the lowest.
