As part of its strategic plan of action for the general elections starting on February 16, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will on Monday release its revised guidelines and voter register to the nation’s 91 political parties.

The commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, confirmed to Akelicious Wednesday that the revised guidelines were ready and would be unveiled for the consideration of the political parties next week.


“We are going to officially release voter register to the political parties on Monday and we are also going to use the opportunity to hand over guidelines and regulations for the conduct of elections to them,” he said in an interview with Akelicious.

Akelicious had obtained a copy of the guidelines from a reliable source last Tuesday. The rules, among others, retains the use of smart card reader and the controversial incidence form.

The Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018, which was vetoed four times by President Muhammadu Buhari, had sought to extensively reform the electoral process by incorporating mandatory use of smart card reader to the exclusion of incidence form as the mode of accreditation of voters.

The amendment bill also sought to clean up the results collation process, providing for electronic transmission of results from polling units to collation centres.

Following the presidential veto and expression of disappointment by opposition parties INEC National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had contended that the extant law was sufficient to guarantee a transparent electoral regime, stating that whatever further reforms were needed to straighten out the process would be accommodated by the revised guidelines.

The revised rules obtained by Akelicious, left the opposition parties with little to cheer about as it retained the main features of the guidelines used to regulate the 2015 elections.

The electoral body stated categorically that the regulations and guidelines supersede all other regulations or guidelines on the conduct of elections issued by the commission and shall remain in force until replaced by new regulations or amendments supported by a Decision Extract of the Commission or an official gazette.

It said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) herein referred to as “the Commission” issues the following Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of Elections (general elections, by-elections, re-run elections and supplementary elections). These regulations and guidelines are issued as a Decision Extract of the Commission of the 21st day of the month of December 2018.”

The regulations and guidelines, it said, would apply to the conduct of elections to the office of the President and Vice President; Governor and Deputy Governor; National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives); State Houses of Assembly; Chairmen and Vice – Chairmen of FCT Area Councils; and Councillors of FCT Area Councils legislatures.

The electoral umpire said that voting in any election to which the regulations and guidelines apply would take place at polling units and voting points.

It added that in the case of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), voting would take place at Polling Units (PU), Voting Points and Voting Point Settlements (VPS).

INEC explained that Voting Points (VPs) are created out of Polling Units based on multiples of 500 and a maximum of 750 registered voters or as may otherwise be determined by the commission.

It also noted that Voting Point Settlement (VPS) might be created by the commission to facilitate access to voters in new settlements not currently served by a PU, stressing that where a VPS is created, it shall be treated as a Polling Unit.

On accreditation of voters on election day, INEC states in Clause 8(b) that; “No person shall be allowed to vote at any Polling Unit/Voting Point Settlement/ Voting Point other than the one at which he/her name appears in the Register of Voters and he/she presents his/her permanent voter card to be verified by the Smart Card Reader, or as otherwise determined by the commission.

It stated further, “10(a) In accordance with Section 49 (2) of the Electoral Act, a person intending to vote shall be verified to be the same person on the Register of Voters by use of the Smart Card Reader (SCR) in the manner prescribed in these regulations and guidelines.”

It warned, “Any poll official who violates the provision of Clause 10 (a) shall be deemed to be guilty of an offense and shall be liable to prosecution,” adding, “The accreditation process shall comprise reading of the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and authentication of the voter’s fingerprint using the Smart Card Reader; checking of the Register of Voters and inking of the cuticle of the specified finger of the voter.”

The guidelines in Clause 11(b) retains the use of incidence form, stating, “Where a voter’s PVC is read but his/her fingerprint is not authenticated, the APO I shall refer the voter to the APO II who shall: (i) request the voter to thumbprint the appropriate box in the Register of Voters; (ii) request the voter to provide his/her phone number in the appropriate box in the Register of Voters; (iii) continue with the accreditation of the voter; and (iv) refer the voter to the PO or APO (VP) for issuance of ballot paper (s).”

It added, “Where a voter’s PVC is read but the name of the voter is not on the Register of Voters, APO I shall refer the voter to the PO or APO (VP) who shall issue a Tendered Ballot (TB) to the voter.”

It said, “In the event that the PVC fails to be read by the Smart Card Reader, the APO I shall refer the voter to the Presiding officer or APO (VP) as the case may be, who shall request the voter: (i) To thumbprint in the appropriate box in the Register of Voters; (ii) Provide his/her phone number in appropriate box on the Register of Voters if available; and (iii) Thereafter refer the voter to the PO for the issuance of Tendered Ballot.”

The guidelines also made provision for possible failure of the Smart Card Reader, stating in Clause 13(a) that, if it fails a replacement has to be procured, and where that is not achieved by 2p.m, polling would have to be postponed till the next day for a functional card reader to be provided.

On the use of Cell phone on election day and as part of effort aimed at curbing vote buying, INEC in Clause 11A(iv) said that the polling officer would request the voter to remove his/her cell phone or any photographic device before proceeding to voting cubicle.

INEC also made it clear in the regulations and guidelines that a Polling Agent who aids and abets election malpractices at a Polling Unit or Collation Centre would be disqualified and on the instruction of the Poll Official/Collation Official would be removed from the Polling Unit/Collation Centre and shall be liable to prosecution.

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/01/inec-retains-smart-card-reader.html[url][/url]

this election is a work over for APC,
and I don't know how pdp Will manage to win one STATE

buharitill2023:
this election is a work over for APC,
and I don't know how pdp Will manage to win one STATE

You are a kid and I believe politics is beyond your level of understanding.



Why don't you just go and start playing with sands as usual

No matter how perfect a law is,if the operators of such laws are unwilling to do the right thing,it ends up becoming a problem.
There's nothing wrong in card readers and incidence forms even the almighty US who has been conducting elections for centuries still uses any other form of voting identification if there's an issue on their voting machines.
The more our election processes get firmly rooted going forward ,the less controversy it would generate.

Oga Metuh, you should be the one preparing to chop paper as usual.

Metuh:

You are a kid and I believe politics is beyond your level of understanding.

Why don't you just go and start playing with sands as usual

Nobody should be disenfranchised on the account of one yeye Smart card that Is not even legal as pronounced by the Supreme Court in 2016.

CilicMarin:
Nobody should disenfranchised on the account of Smart card that Is not even legal as pronounced by the Supreme Court..

Gbam

What goes around comes around

CilicMarin:
Nobody should disenfranchised on the account of Smart card that Is not even legal as pronounced by the Supreme Court..

You rigging plan will not work, PVC should be mandatory and no incident forms

Anambralstson:

You rigging plan will not work, PVC should be mandatory and no incident forms

Are you OK?

Metuh:

You are a kid and I believe politics is beyond your level of understanding.



Why don't you just go and start playing with sands as usual

with incidence forms reintroduced, I'm afraid his saying the truth.

All the underage almajiris in the north and in Niger, Chad would vote via incidence form.

The renewed insurgency would make it almost impractical for inec staff to be deployed in troubled states in the north giving APC the leeway go manipulate with incidence forms.

CilicMarin:
Nobody should be disenfranchised on the account of Smart card that Is not even legal as pronounced by the Supreme Court in 2016.

The monster you are creating will surely comeback to hunt you.

See a Nigerian youth celebrating plans to rig his nations elections. Tufiakwa.

shachris02:


with incidence forms reintroduced, I'm afraid his saying the truth.

All the underage almajiris in the north and in Niger, Chad would vote via incidence form.

The renewed insurgency would make it almost impractical for inec staff to be deployed in troubled states in the north giving APC the leeway go manipulate with incidence forms.

I thought you guys boasted that Atiku was also Fulani like Buhari, so the Election up North would be 50:50?

Moreover, where is the empirical evidence that almaajiris and kids would vote one Candidate?

CilicMarin:
Nobody should be disenfranchised on the account of one yeye Smart card that Is not even legal as pronounced by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Are you afraid of the smart card ? ok you want to rig with incident form, make una no worry una eyes go clear

CilicMarin:


I thought you guys boasted that Atiku was also Fulani like Buhari, so the Election up North would 50:50?

Moreover, where is the empirical evidence that almaajiris and kids would vote one Candidate?

Because you control inec and the election materials.

gare:


Are you afraid of the smart card ? ok you want to rig with incident form, make una no worry una eyes go clear

Afraid ke? Did you read the article? Smart cards would be used alongside the incident forms incase of issues, as we had in 2015..

The only problem is that, if the INEC disenfranchised some Voters on the account of smart cards, somebody would just wake up and approach the court for the cancellation of the entire election, citing the use of illegal smart cards to conduct the said Election..

So INEC is being proactive, as they don't want to be caught off guard.

CilicMarin:


Afraid ke? Did you read the article? Smart cards would be used alongside the incident forms incase of issues, as we had in 2015..

The only problem is that, if the INEC disenfranchised some Voters on the account of smart cards, somebody would just wake up and approach the court for the cancellation of the entire election, citing the use of illegal smart cards to conduct the said Election..

So INEC is being proactive, as they don't wants to be caught off guard.

If you want to be truthful with yourself for once PMB won 2015 election with a great margin with incident form, which means it was rigged, so you want the use of incident form again, I thought you all say PMB is popular, so go for a free and fair election and leave out the incident form because it is a tool for rigging

CilicMarin:


Afraid ke? Did you read the article? Smart cards would be used alongside the incident forms incase of issues, as we had in 2015..

The only problem is that, if the INEC disenfranchised some Voters on the account of smart cards, somebody would just wake up and approach the court for the cancellation of the entire election, citing the use of illegal smart cards to conduct the said Election..

So INEC is being proactive, as they don't wants to be caught off guard.

Mind you 2015 is different from 2019, not then PDP agents in north were chased out from PUs, some of those part of rigging PMB in the north are with Atiku, especially in Kano, 2015 Northern power brokers united and rigged out GEJ now its a different ball game.

CilicMarin:


Afraid ke? Did you read the article? Smart cards would be used alongside the incident forms incase of issues, as we had in 2015..

The only problem is that, if the INEC disenfranchised some Voters on the account of smart cards, somebody would just wake up and approach the court for the cancellation of the entire election, citing the use of illegal smart cards to conduct the said Election..

So INEC is being proactive, as they don't wants to be caught off guard.

Inec said itvhas cleaned up the register, and the Xhairman said it wont use incidence form. So why the U-turn? The most funny thing in this lifevis karma. Shey e dey sweet you now cos APC wants to rig abi? I hope if in the end the table turns, and this law is used against your demigod Tinubu political empire, i hope una no go dey shout blue murder. not to worry sha we go see how e finish.

Anambralstson:

Mind you 2015 is different from 2019, not then PDP agents in north were chased out from PUs, some of those part of rigging PMB in the north are with Atiku, especially in Kano, 2015 Northern power brokers united and rigged out GEJ now its a different ball game.

Okay! That is fair!

gare over to you

I laugh in NEXT LEVEL

Anybody still doubt that atiku will suffer bloodied nose should hit me up for a bet.

Minimum 100k

Maximum 500k -

gare:


If you want to be truthful with yourself for once PMB won 2015 election with a great margin with incident form, which means it was rigged, so you want the use of incident form again, I thought you all say PMB is popular, so go for a free and fair election and leave out the incident form because it is a tool for rigging

Look here Mr Man, incident form or not PDP are not going to win more than 5 States....Go to the field and do your pre polling assessment...PDP know this, Atiku Know this...it is just the online fanatic Supporters of his are still living in fantasy world...

Now to the issue of incident forms, there is no way INEC will import what is not in our electoral laws nor the Constitution just to please you and leave themselves open for litigations and possible cancellation of results...it is never done..

CilicMarin:


Okay! That is fair!

gare over to you

Anambralstson, please name those that rigged in PMB or rigged GEJ out that are with Atiku ? So in other words you are saying the rigging machine in the North belongs to Atiku ?

Ganduri:


Inec said itvhas cleaned up the register, and the Xhairman said it wont use incidence form. So why the U-turn? The most funny thing in this lifevis karma. Shey e dey sweet you now cos APC wants to rig abi? I hope if in the end the table turns, and this law is used against your demigod Tinubu political empire, i hope una no go dey shout blue murder. not to worry sha we go see how e finish.

E no sweet me say PDP rigged our Elections for 16 good years....now they are afraid of their shadows..

Don't worry Buhari doesn't interfere in the works of INEC....allow them do their job.

gare:



Anambralstson, please name those that rigged in PMB or rigged GEJ out that are with Atiku ? So in other words you are saying the rigging machine in the North belongs to Atiku ?

He is telling you the simple truth Obasanjo, IBB, Okupe, FFK, etc are now with your candidate.... Moreover, Atiku is Fulani so is Buhari...so entertain no fears.

Hehehe...very good. 5milion votes loading in kano

Next Level sure die...
Atiku imps can jump inside lagoon & never come out.

Quote me & miss d next level flight...

Before now;
https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/inec-will-not-use-incident-form-in-2019-elections-rec/amp/

And today;

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/01/inec-retains-smart-card-reader.html
This Buhari-led APC government and all agencies under it can never be trusted.Please the court should address this issue.

Incidence form again? Then it is finished. That's Buhari’s rigging tool.

No incidence form will be used in this election.

One of the many disadvantages of incident form is that, under age voters can get a fake voters card which won’t work and then Inec would be forced to use the incident form. Inec has perfect a plan to rig in Buhari, what they don’t know is that they can’t rig him in the way they did in 2015, Atiku and kwakwanso were key players in the emergence of Buhari, they also know the game.

Racoon:
Before now;
https://www.google.com/amp/s/punchng.com/inec-will-not-use-incident-form-in-2019-elections-rec/amp/

And today;

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/01/inec-retains-smart-card-reader.html
This Buhari-led APC government and all agencies under it can never be trusted.Please the court should address this issue.

Supreme had already validated the use of incident forms in its 2016 ruling, see APC /Peterside Vs Wike/INEC