Rivers Re-run: Buhari not intimidating, influencing me— INEC Chairman

Against claims by some partisan interests accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of forcing his political wishes down the throat of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has stated otherwise. Yakubu spoke yesterday at the opening of a two-day workshop organised by the commission for some journalists in Abuja. He said his lifetime ambition was to be a university lecturer and that having achieved that by divine providence, whatever he now does in life is more like a bonus, adding that at his present stage in life, he cannot be goaded into doing what is unlawful. Responding to a question as to whether he was under any pressure from the president, he said; “It is too late to be intimidated by anybody. For what purpose? Directly or indirectly, I have never been approached by anybody to do anything other than what obtains in the law. There is no influence on INEC. The best marker are the elections we have concluded. Which party won what? There is no pressure on me or any of the (national) commissioners”, he stated. INEC to conclude outstanding Rivers Rerun in 2017 He also said INEC will conclude two outstanding state and Federal Assembly rerun elections in Rivers state next year. INEC had last weekend moved to conclude all the 22 rerun elections in the state, but was forced to cancel the exercise in two constituencies in Etche. He said there were 70 incidences of deliberate obstruction of the election process in Rivers state, adding that the commission has documented all the cases and is reviewing them for possible prosecution in line with its guidelines. Yakubu said, “elections were massively disrupted in a substantial part of Etche Local Government Area which affected two constituencies; the Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency and the Etche II State Constituency for which the Commission will decide on a new date early in the New Year”. We recorded 70 incidents of obstruction in Rivers INEC also said it recorded 70 incidents of deliberate obstruction of the process, explaining how “election duty personnel were harassed, abducted and physically assaulted”. Condemning the killing of a police officer and other incidences of violence, the INEC boss expressed confidence in the ability of security agencies to investigate all violations of the nation’s laws “before, during and after the last rerun elections in Rivers state, including the alleged unsavoury roles played by actors in uniform”. He said INEC will work with the security agencies to uncover and punish those who disrupted the distribution of election materials in Okrika and Gokana as well as other incidences of violence. Yakubu who hailed the performance of some INEC staff who stood their ground in the face of violent threats from assailants, said the commission is also investigating some of its staff in Ahoada East and West, as well as in Etche and Ikwerre to determine their culpability or otherwise in the hitches experienced in those areas. Set to automate PVC Collection, Transfer On the high number of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards PVCs, Yakubu disclosed that INEC is in the process of ensuring the automation of the processes of collection and transfer of such cards. He said when the automation is completed, card owners would be able to track the location of their cards or apply for a transfer to another polling unit using the internet.

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