INEC Ready to Prosecute Electoral Offenders

INEC Ready to Prosecute Electoral Offenders – Yakubu

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says that the commission is setting up a legal team to deal with cases of electoral offenders during the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls.
This was as he said the forthcoming governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will be expectedly more demanding than the presidential poll and urged the security agencies to be on guard.
The INEC boss spoke at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in Abuja on Tuesday.
Yakubu advised political parties to caution their supporters, stressing that the March 18 governorship and state Assembly elections are a contest and not war.
He said INEC was looking forward to receiving electoral offenders’ case files as promised by the Inspector-General of Police.
Yakubu said, “The governorship and state Assembly elections this weekend involve more constituencies than the national elections held about three weeks ago. Unlike the last elections involving 470 constituencies (one presidential, 109 senatorial districts and 360 House of Representatives seats), the state elections will involve 1,021 constituencies (28 governorship and 993 state Assembly seats). There will also be more candidates involved and more collation centres to protect. There are also local elections involving keen contests.
“It is, therefore, important for parties and candidates to speak to their agents and supporters to see the elections as a contest and not war. They should refrain from acts of violence that may mar the elections or compromise the security of our personnel, observers, the media and service providers “