Campaigns for the 2023 general elections have started; do
you feel a sense of trepidation or fulfilment?
I feel a sense of responsibility and satisfaction. Recall that
on February 26 this year, the commission released the
timetable and schedule of activities for the elections.
2023: Parties Must Disclose Sources Of Campaign Funds –
INEC Chair
Nigeria@62: The mixed fortunes of her diversity and the
2023 agenda
The elections will hold in two phases: the first one is what we
call national elections—presidential and National Assembly,
meaning that senatorial and House of Representatives
elections will hold on February 25; then we have the state
elections – governorship elections in 28 states and the state
houses of assembly.
The governorship is holding in 28 instead of 36 states
because in the other eight states their elections were held
off cycle, like the ones we conducted recently in Ekiti and
Osun states.
In the timetable we released early this year, we identified
14 activities between the publication of the notice for
elections and the election day. And today, we have
successfully accomplished 9 out of the 14 activities.
Why does it seem as if this is the longest period of
electioneering-related campaigns before the actual
elections?
It is actually a reality because previously, parties were required
to submit the names of candidates to the commission, 60
days before the elections. In fact, we have up to 45 days for
withdrawal for substitution and that has created a lot of
challenges for the commission, and the responsibilities we
discharge keep increasing. For instance, in 2019 we had
84million registered voters, our projection for 2023 is 95
million, and so, the responsibility for recruitment and training
of ad hoc staff, the production of sensitive and non sensitive
materials will increase on that basis.
So, we approached the National Assembly and specifically
requested for some extension of time between the
conclusion of the primaries by political parties and the
conduct of subsequent activities leading to the election
day; and the National Assembly granted 180 days, which is
six months.
So they are very generous with the days?
Although we asked for a year, they were generous enough
to give us six months; that is why it looks very long.
Parties have concluded their primaries and submitted the
names of their candidates. We have published the final list
of candidates for the national election as required by law.
For the presidential and National Assembly elections, we
have over 4,200 candidates. We are in the process of
concluding the final list of candidates for state elections,
which is going to be much longer and bigger than the
national elections.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu
Don’t you think this is very costly for the country?
I think it is good. As our democracy matures, we will
become used to certainty. What you have just said
reminded me of the period before the 2019 general
elections, when, in order to engender certainty into our
electoral calendar, the commission decided that going
forward, our elections would hold on February 3 of the
election year.
For that reason we released the timetable one year to the
elections, but people said it would distract the country and
overheat the polity, but it is now accepted. It is the norm
and practice in many countries. Every Ghanaian knows that
December 5th of the election year is election day
irrespective of the day of the week. In Kenya, they all know
that elections will hold on the second Tuesday of August of
the election year. In the United States, for instance, it is on
the first Tuesday of November of the election year unless it
happens to be the first day of the month.
So much money is sucked up by public service and very
little trickles down to do the necessary things for
everybody. Would any of these in any way improve the
quality of democracy in the country because you will find
that there are pockets of despondency now?
My responsibility is to conduct elections, and as you can see,
there has been progressive improvement on the conduct and
management of elections. It is clear now that with every
election the process is getting better and more participatory.
So, as far as the commission is concerned, we have seen
tremendous improvement. No one can say that the way
elections were conducted in 1998 and 1999 is the same
way they are conducted today. And we will keep improving.
There may be other issues that are beyond the electoral
commission, but as far as we are concerned, I think there
have been progressive improvements, and Nigerians
acknowledge that.
I understand that you have put a limit to campaign
funding, such as N5billion for certain candidates, is that
realistic?
The limits are actually in the law. But it wasn’t N5billion
under the old law, it is the new electoral act that set the
limit for presidential and other elections —from
governorship down to councillorship in the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT). The FCT is the only part of the country
where the INEC conducts local government elections. So,
since the limits are in the law, they must be obeyed.
There are also limits to what individuals can contribute to
campaign financing. The party also has its own limitations
as to what it can spend, including where the money is
coming from and the responsibility for full disclosure for
transparency.
I have seen push-backs, especially regarding Nigerians
who are based abroad, who want to contribute and who
say they are being prevented by the law in terms of
funding, how would you react to this?
Well, the law is the law. It states that parties cannot receive
financial contributions outside the country.
From anybody?
From anybody.
Whether he is a Nigerian based in the United States,
United Kingdom and wherever?
That is right. And if there is any money received by any
party from outside the country, such funds must be
transferred to the commission. But there is another
dimension to the foreign issue you have raised. At present,
Nigerians only vote in Nigeria because the law states that
you can only vote if you registered; and we don’t have
registration centres or polling units outside Nigeria.
However, there has been an advocacy by Nigerians living
outside the country to be given the right to vote as is the
case in many other countries, even in West Africa, but the
law has not allowed that.
We have also championed that cause because the
commission supports Nigerians living outside the country
to vote; and they are in two categories. You have Nigerians
resident outside Nigeria, and that is the category called
Diaspora Nigerians. But there is another category of out-of-
country Nigerians who may be in Foreign Service or doing
medical services overseas, or members of the technical
corps. Like those who are permanently resident outside the
country, they don’t vote.
But as soon as the law permits that we should register them
outside the country, we will work out the modalities for voting.
You concluded voter registration some months ago and
new voters are supposed to begin the collection of their
cards this October, but it is said that over a million people
were found to be fraudulently registered, what is your
take?
The first point to make is that these cards should be
available for collection by citizens. We hope that by the end
of October or early November they would be collected. We
have consistently said so, and we are working towards that.
Quite a number of the cards of new registrants have already
been printed.
During the registration exercise, there were complaints
from various quarters that many intending voters were
frustrated because there were limited centres. How are
you going to distribute the cards to avoid such frustrating
experiences?
Well, we must admit that the number that turned out to
register was overwhelming. What every agency like the
INEC does is to rely on institutional memory of what
happened.
The commission registered over 14million Nigerians before
the 2019 general elections and we had 1,446 centres. Our
projection for 2023 was that more Nigerians would register;
therefore, we increased the number of centres to 2,672 or
so, but even so, towards the end, there was a big surge and
we extended it to the end of July 2022.
We made ample provisions, including, for the first time,
online pre-registration for those who have access to smart-
phones and internet and computers. But we appreciate the
fact that not all Nigerians have access to these facilities.
In addition to the online pre-registration opportunities, we
also had the physical or walk-in registration centres,
including roving or rotational centres, but towards the end,
there was a big surge.
Now, regarding the 1 million we announced as invalid
registration, the commission, after every registration, cleans
up the data. In cleaning up the data, we remove those who
are not eligible to be registered under the law – those who
are below the age of 18, those who are not Nigerians, or
those who have registered before. Nigerians are not
allowed to register more than once, so we remove those
who engaged in multiple registration. That was what we
did. But that only covered from June 28, 2021 to January
14, 2022. Right now, we are cleaning up the data of new
registrants from January 15, 2022 to July 31 when the
exercise was suspended, until after the general elections.
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/2023-more-invalid-registrations-to-be-removed-from-voters-register-professor-yakubu
mynd44 oam4j lalasticlala seun semid4lyfe dominique

ok

Election never start but rigging don start.

Those who illegally registered, the underaged, double registered, citizens of Biafra who mistakenly registered as Nigerians, etc thinking that they are wise will soon start crying

Yesterday movement was unbelievable and they've decided to shorten our votes throw INEC.....


Yakubu should not allow himself to be used.....

Has e dy pain you e dy sweet us


All those Biafra with double registration, make I give una bucket Incase tears start to rush

Tinubu hope of rigging is dashed
No more OLUWOLE fake voters