We will p¥nish officials who s@botaged presidential/NASS polls — INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has vowed to p¥nish its officials, including ad-hoc or collation personnel, who may have been found wanting in the conduct of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this on Saturday in Abuja at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners RECs.

He said; “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”

He said arising from last week’s election, the Commission has received reports from its State offices well as complaints and petitions from political parties and candidates. According to him, where infractions of any kind are proven, there will be redress, adding that any action taken by the Commission is without prejudice to the rights of parties and candidates to seek further remedy as provided by law.

On Election Day technology, Yakubu added that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS will once again be deployed for voter accreditation and result management. He said the deployment of BVAS has gone a long way to sanitise voter accreditation as can be seen from the result of recent elections.
“Since last week, the Commission has intensified the review of the technology to ensure that glitches experienced, particularly with the upload of results are rectified. We are confident that going forward the system will run optimally”, he said.