INEC expresses worries over lingering litigations in buildup to Kogi, Bayelsa, Imo elections

INEC expresses worries over lingering litigations in buildup to Kogi, Bayelsa, Imo elections

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed its concerns regarding pre-election litigation, foreseeing challenges ahead of the off-season governorship polls in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Commission, voiced these concerns during the agency’s quarterly meeting with political parties in Abuja on Tuesday. He particularly highlighted the recent court judgments and orders related to candidate nominations, substitutions, and disqualifications, which have emerged after the printing of sensitive electoral materials by the commission.

Yakubu emphasized that the reprinting of materials to comply with court orders within a limited time frame is not only a costly endeavor but also poses significant managerial challenges.

“The Commission has already published the final list of candidates for the three states. However, due to four recent court orders, we have been compelled to revise the list. These modifications are reflected in the updated list of parties and candidates on our website. It’s important to note that this decision is made without prejudice to any pending appeals by the affected candidates or their respective political parties,” Yakubu explained.

The INEC Chairman also expressed concern over the incomplete nomination of agents by some political parties for polling units and collation centers in the three states.

“Political parties have submitted the names of their polling and collation agents through the dedicated web portal. As I mentioned during our meeting with Resident Electoral Commissions last week, a total of 137,934 agents, comprising 130,093 polling agents and 7,841 collation agents, have been successfully uploaded to the portal. However, not all political parties have nominated agents for all the polling units and collation centers in the three states.”

Yakubu announced that the commission would soon release a detailed breakdown of the agents submitted by all political parties for public information. He urged political parties to consider the submission of agent names as crucial as nominating candidates for the upcoming election.