THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it will not keep sensitive materials in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ahead of the governorship election in Ekiti State.
The INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made this disclosure again on Saturday, June 4, during a town hall meeting held in Abuja.
According to him, the electoral body is ready to conduct a free and fair election in the state, and all non-sensitive election materials have been moved to Ado Ekiti, except the sensitive materials.
He added that, contrary to tradition, sensitive materials would not be kept in the CBN facility for Ekiti Election.
Instead, all the sensitive materials will be delivered to the INEC office directly and distributed to the 16 local government areas of the state. He added that the same thing would happen in the Osun election slated for July 16.
When asked if the decision was taken due to the partisan position of the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, the chairman said the decision was part of the regular review of operation in the INEC.
He said the measure is temporary pending further discussion with CBN, noting that the apex bank can handle sensitive materials.
The chairman noted that since INEC started a collaboration with CBN, there had not been a single failure incident.
Emefiele had indicated an interest in contesting for the presidency while still serving as CBN governor, but the court stopped him in his track.
Section nine of the CBN Act states that”The Governor and the Deputy Governors shall devote the whole of their time to the service of the Bank and while holding office shall not engage in any full or part-time employment or vacation whether remunerated or not except such personal or charitable causes as may be determined by the Board and which do not conflict with or detract from their full-time duties”.
With regards to the welfare of ad-hoc staff, the chairman said the INEC has taken care of bottlenecks that usually result in delays in payment.
He assured corps members who work as ad-hoc staff that their allowances would be paid promptly as long as they provided accurate bank account information.
He also said the INEC officials accused of extorting money from registrants in Anambra and other states in the East will be investigated and sanctioned accordingly.
The town hall meeting tagged The Electorate: A Conversation on Election in Nigeria was organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, Goal, The Election Hub, The Electoral College, Yiaga and Enough is Enough.
Ajibola Amzat, Managing Editor at The ICIR. He can be reached via [email protected]
and @ajibolaamzat on Twitter.