ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION, PROFESSOR MAHMOOD YAKUBU, AT THE OSUN GOVERNORSHIOP ELECTION STAKEHOLDERS’ MEETING HELD AT THE ATLANTIS CIVIC CENTRE, OSOGBO, MONDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2018.
1. Let me join our Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun State to once again welcome you all to this very important meeting. As many of you are aware, the timetable and schedule of activities for the Osun State Governorship election was released almost a year ago on 5th October 2017. As is the case with all major elections, the Commission identified fourteen (14) step-by-step activities based on the provisions of the law and the Commission’s regulations and guidelines. I am glad to report that so far, twelve (12) of these activities have been successfully implemented on schedule. These include the official publication of notice for the election, conduct of party primaries and nomination of candidates, the publication of the final list of candidates for the election, the presentation of the official register of voters to political parties and the submission of the names of party agents to the Commission. It is now only four (4) days to the election and there are only two (2) outstanding activities. These are the end of campaign scheduled for midnight on Thursday 20th September 2018 and the election holding on Saturday 22nd September 2018.
2. Beyond the statutory guidelines and schedule of activities, the Commission has undertaken intensive voter education and sensitisation, held many consultative meetings with political parties and their candidates in addition to Town Hall meetings in Osun State at which very useful suggestions were made on how to enhance the credibility of the election. We have also engaged and trained the ad hoc staff required for the election, made arrangements for the delivery of personnel and materials to all polling units on election day.
3. Let me seize this opportunity to thank all those who participated in these meetings - the political parties, candidates, Royal Fathers, religious leaders, civil society organisations, the media, women, youths and persons living with disabilities - for the invaluable observations, suggestions and advice. These interactions have helped us in reviewing some of our processes and procedures.
4. Our ultimate objective is to ensure that the choice of who becomes the next Governor of Osun State is entirely in the hands of the voters. Votes will count and only the choice made by the people of Osun State and nothing else will determine the outcome of the election. I wish to reassure you that the Commission shall not take any action to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate. Our focus is on our processes and procedures.
5. We have been progressively improving on our punctuality. We have also taken measures to improve the functionality of the Commission’s technological innovations to further safeguard the integrity and credibility of elections. We will continue to ensure that our personnel and materials arrive promptly at polling units and that the Smart Card Readers function optimally. The processes of counting the ballot papers at polling units as well as the collation and declaration of results will continue to be prompt, open and transparent. As in previous elections, a copy of the result for each polling unit will be recorded on a specially designed poster EC60E and displayed for public information. This is an additional layer of transparency introduced by the Commission. The information contained in the EC60E is the same as recorded in the EC8A given to agents of political parties at polling unit level. We encourage voters at each polling unit as well as election observers to pay particular attention to this aspect of the process and to report any breach to the Commission for immediate action.
6. On this note, I wish to now turn to the worrisome issue of vote-buying. Over the years, the Commission has taken several steps to improve our electoral process. Today, malpractices such as ballot box snatching and stuffing, multiple voting, diversion of election materials, hijacking of election personnel, falsification of results and sundry violations of the electoral law have been considerably addressed. Votes now count and for this reason, the voter has become the new target of those who are determined to continue to subvert the electoral process. The menace of vote buying and selling on election day is the latest challenge to our electoral democracy. We wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission will rise to this challenge as well.
7. Our immediate response is to review the administration of our polling units to make it difficult for voters to expose their marked ballot papers between the voting cubicles where they vote in secret and the ballot box where they cast their votes. We are working with the security and other law enforcement agencies for a solution to this brazen violation of several provisions of the Electoral Act. We have also consulted widely with stakeholders on how best to address this issue. It was during one of such consultative meetings here in Osun State that they drew the Commission’s attention to the use of smart mobile phones by some voters to take pictures of their marked ballot papers in the voting cubicles and later present it to vote buyers as evidence for payment.
8. This is a particularly difficult challenge to handle for the simple reason that the Commission has consistently encouraged citizens to report violations on election day to our Situation Room for which they may require their phones. For this reason, we have introduced a number of platforms through which we can be reached real-time, including a toll-free INEC Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) telephone line in addition to our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. Therefore, it is counter-productive for the Commission to introduce a blanket ban on the use of mobile phones or other photographic devices at polling units on election day. What we have done is to exclude the use of such devices by accredited voters from the time they collect their ballot papers, mark them in the voting cubicles and drop in the ballot box. In making this clarification, we wish to appeal to voters to bear this short inconvenience for the sanctity of the ballot and the overall credibility of our elections.
9. As is always the case with major off-season elections, we are deploying a number of senior officials from the National Headquarters and our State offices nationwide. This is also an important induction process, especially for our newly appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners. We have similarly accredited many national and international observers and media organisations for the election. We urge all observers and the media to be objective, fair and report accurately.
10. We are delighted by the calm atmosphere prevailing in Osun State only four (4) days to the election. This is the last of the seven (7) stand-alone Governorship elections the Commission is conducting since the 2015 general elections. It is also unique because a record number of forty-eight (48) political parties are fielding candidates in the election. We are confident that with the arrangements we have put in place and the assurances of support from all stakeholders, the Osun State Governorship Election 2018 will be another good example of a free, fair, credible and peaceful election as well as a further affirmation of the maturity of our democracy.
11. Any credible election must be inclusive and participatory. It is always about the people but in order to participate in the process, citizens must have their voters’ cards. Since 2015, the Commission has made the possession of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) a mandatory requirement for voting in Nigeria. I am happy that over 70% of registered voters in Osun State have collected their PVCs. Our office here in Osun State has announced that the collection of PVCs will be suspended today Monday 17th September 2018 at 5pm. However, in order to give opportunity for more voters to participate in the election, the collection of PVCs is hereby extended to 5pm on Wednesday 19th September 2018. The exercise will resume after the Governorship election until a week to the 2019 general elections. The Commission once again appeals to those who have not collected their PVCs to seize the opportunity of the extension to do so.
12. I thank you all for your presence at this interactive meeting and God bless.
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