INEC Task Security Agencies On Safety
By Akombo Aondona, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday 23 January 2024 announced 1st to 24th February and 6th and 27th September as dates for governorship primaries for Edo and Ondo states respectively.
Chairman INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) held in Abuja.
The meeting had in attendance the National Security Adviser and Co-Chair of ICCES, the Inspector General of Police, personally present, representatives of the Service Chiefs, heads of various Intelligence, Security and Law Enforcement Agencies, other members of ICCES and the Media.
According to Prof. Yakubu, “There are two categories of elections. First are the bye-elections arising from the death or resignation of members of the National and State legislative houses affecting two Senatorial Districts, four Federal and three State Assembly Constituencies. The second category is the re-run elections by order of Election Petition Appeal Tribunals.
“In my remarks at the Commission’s extraordinary meeting with leaders of political parties last month, I reported that the elections affect 35 National and State Constituencies. Since then, four additional orders of the Court of Appeal have been served on the Commission in respect of Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency of Sokoto State, Madara/Chinade State Constituency of Bauchi State as well as Kudan and Kauru/Chawai State Constituencies of Kaduna State. This brings the total number of affected constituencies to 39 which translates to 2.6% of the 1,491 Constituencies for which elections were conducted nationwide in the 2023 General Election.
“The nine bye-elections are fresh elections covering the entire constituencies. However, with the exception of three Constituencies (Plateau North Senatorial District and Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency in Plateau State and Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency in Kaduna State), the re-run elections are to be held in a few Polling Units. In some cases, only one Polling Unit is affected in an entire Federal or State Constituency.
The INEC chairman continued: “Your task as members of ICCES is to ensure security for the elections. For this reason, the Commission has already provided to the Nigeria Police Force, as the lead agency in election security, the full information of the locations where the elections will be held broken down by States, Local Government Areas, Registration Areas/Wards and Polling Units.
“We have similarly provided the number of registered voters and Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected in each Polling Unit. The same information will be shared at this meeting with other members of ICCES. The updated information will be also be uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms for public information immediately after this meeting.”
Prof. Yakubu added: “What many people do not realize is that there is no election season in Nigeria any longer. Elections are held throughout the year between one general election and another. This adds to the enormous pressure on both INEC and the security agencies. For instance, in addition to the bye-elections and re-run elections holding next week, the Commission has also released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the two off-cycle Governorship elections in Edo State scheduled for 21st September 2024 and Ondo State holding on 16th November 2024. As required by the Electoral Act 2022, party primaries and nomination of candidates shall be done not later than 180 days before the date fixed for the elections.
“Accordingly, party primaries for Edo State will commence next week and end three weeks later (i.e. 1st- 24th February 2024). For Ondo State, primaries will be held between 6th and 27th April 2024.
“Our collective experience as election managers and security agencies shows that party primaries can sometimes be more acrimonious than general elections. Therefore, as we prepare for the bye-elections and re-run elections, we should equally be prepared for the two major elections later in this year in Edo and Ondo States.”
Leave a Reply