By Harry Emmanuel
Prof Yakubu
Electoral offenders will be dealt with according to dictates of
the law – Prof Yakubu
Contrary to the
directive of President Muhammadu Buhari that ballot box snatchers should be
shot at sight, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has posited that electoral
offenders will be dealt with according to the dictates of the Electoral Act.
The INEC
Chairman stated this while briefing the media on its state of readiness for the
election postponed for next Saturday 23rd February, at the Abuja International
Conference Centre, AICC, yesterday.
According to
Prof. Yakubu, “all violators of our Electoral Act will be punished according to
the dictates of the Electoral Acts.” On the issue of protesters that blocked
its offices in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, he posited that citizens are free
to protest in as much as it done within the dictates of the law.
Speaking
further, the INEC Chairman dispelled as mere rumor the news making the rounds that
one of his National Commissioners and some Directors were arrested by security
agents, “no Commissioner or Directors were arrested by security agents, we will
continue to protect and jealously guard our elections.
“The Commission
will do everything under the law to protect voters, ad hoc staff and staff
during the elections, we will not jeopardize the lives of the people.”
On the
allegation that one of its contractors handling the configuration of the Smart
Card Readers, SCRs, is a politician and currently vying for a Senatorial seat,
Prof. yakubu maintained that, “no third party is involved in the configuration
of the Smart Card Readers, it is done by the officials of the Commission under
the supervision of the head Of Department of the Information, Communication
Technology, ICT.”
He stated that
the Commission has spare Smart Card readers to deploy to the states affected by
the fire incidents, “we have learnt a lot from experience of the challenges we
encountered, we are committed and fully prepared for the elections ahead,” he
said.
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