SaharaReporters had reported that the presidential and National Assembly elections were marred with irregularities such as late arrival of electoral materials, voter suppression, thuggery manipulation of election results among others.
To forestall what happened in last Saturday's Presidential and National Assembly elections, Nigeria's electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that all the staff identified to have compromised would not participate in the governorship and House of Assembly elections by next week Saturday.
SaharaReporters had reported that the presidential and National Assembly elections were marred with irregularities such as late arrival of electoral materials, voter suppression, thuggery manipulation of election results among others.
Above all, the electoral umpire breached its guidelines and regulations for election and provisions of Electoral Act 2022 and Nigeria constitution.
Following series of criticism and protest, the commission's Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, on Saturday during a meeting with the Resident Electoral commissioners (RECs) in Abuja, vowed that all identified issues observed in the last election must be fixed.
He said, “As we approach the governorship and state assembly elections, we must work harder to overcome the challenges experienced in the last election. Nothing else will be acceptable to Nigerians.
“All staff found to be negligent, whether they are regular or ad hoc officials, including collation and returning officers (ROs), must not be involved in forthcoming elections.
“RECs must also immediately initiate disciplinary action where prima facie evidence of wrongdoing has been established."
While appraising the conduct of the last Saturday's polls, Yakubu said a lot of lessons had been learnt and of immediate concern to the commission is how the identified challenges can be addressed as the nation approach the concluding phase of the general election involving the largest number of constituencies being 28 state governorship elections and 993 state houses of assembly seats.