The national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday expressed disgust over the role security personnel played during the November 16, 2018 governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states.
Speaking at a meeting of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), held at INEC headquarters in Abuja, Professor Yakubu said such deployment of security personnel left much to be desired.
The National Security Adviser is the co-chair of ICCES.
He disclosed that that the commission was concluding arrangements for the re-run elections scheduled for Saturday, 25 January 2020 in one senatorial district, 12 federal constituencies and 15 state constituencies.
He recalled that at the last meeting of the committee, the members “expressed concern about the dimension that illegal deployment of financial resources to influence the outcome of elections, including vote-buying at polling units on Election Day,” had assumed.
The INEC boss said: “The meeting, recognising the existing collaboration with the anti-corruption agencies in tracking financial flows for illicit purposes as well as the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of such flows, especially for the purpose of corrupting the electoral process through vote-buying, resolved that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) should be included as members of ICCES. On this note, it is my pleasure to welcome the acting chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, as well as the chairman of the ICPC, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, to this meeting as members of ICCES.
“It is the responsibility of the security agencies to secure the environment for the successful conduct of elections. The purpose of security deployment during elections is to protect the voters, election officials and materials, accredited observers, the media and to safeguard the integrity of the processes generally, including the polling units and collations centres.
“The commission is concerned that security deployment in some of the most recent elections left much to be desired. There is more emphasis on numbers of security personnel to be deployed but less consideration on strategic deployment to protect the process, leaving the voters, election officials, party agents, observers, the media and even unarmed security personnel at polling units vulnerable to attacks by thugs and hoodlums.
“Furthermore, there is emphasis on numbers of security personnel but less on synergy, coordination and collaboration among the various security agencies in line with the purpose for which ICCES was established in the first instance.
“We must adopt a different approach to election security. We must translate the new approach to reality in the forthcoming re-run elections such that Nigerians will see a qualitatively different security arrangement. No thugs and hoodlums can be more powerful than the Nigeria Police and other security agencies. It is the failure to act decisively and collaboratively that encourages thuggery and serves as an incentive for bad behaviour.
“Going forward, INEC has decided that although the commission has no power under the law to cancel an election, it will not proceed with the process in any constituency where the safety of voters, our personnel and materials is threatened. Furthermore, collation of results will not proceed where the collation centres are invaded. No declaration of winners will be made where Returning Officers are threatened.
“The commission is aware of the imperative of reform, of which the review of the electoral legal framework is fundamental. We are working with the National Assembly and all stakeholders in this regard.
“One critical area of reform is the prosecution of electoral offenders. We shall vigorously pursue the establishment of the electoral offences commission and tribunal. Unless such decisive measure is taken, the present system of arrest, investigation and prosecution of electoral offenders will remain at best palliatives.”
Credit: Tribune
