Electoral officers, our weakest link in elections – INEC boss

Chairman, Independent National Election (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has said electoral officers are the weakest link in the Commission’s preparations for elections.

Yakubu, who was represented by a national commissioner in the Commission, Amina Zakari, stated this at a strategy meeting in Abuja in preparation for the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

The chairman, who disclosed that about 200 individuals were currently undergoing trials in courts across the country, emphasised that the Commission would leave no stone unturned in conducting hitch-free exercises in the two states.

Governorship elections in the two states are billed for September 10 and November 26, respectively.

Yakubu, who said the electoral offenders also included staff of the Commission, pointed out that this was the outcome of the 2015 elections.

He said voter verification portal has come online for Continuous Voters Registration.

“The INEC Citizens Centre is functional, it has been upgraded and we have enhanced citizens engagement online. The voter verification portal is online; the phone lines will soon be issued to the states.

“The PVC distribution has been ongoing in Ondo for the outstanding PVCs. And we believe that those outstanding PVCs something must have happened either the owners have moved or they have died or they don’t belong to any particular person. But we are still not relenting. We have allowed people to collect their PVCs even before we flag off PVC collection after the Continuous Voters Registration,” he stated.

The event was organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of over 60 civic groups.

Earlier, Clement Nwankwo, executive director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), said the meeting was aimed at articulating early engagement strategy with critical election stakeholders such as INEC, security agencies and civil society in the forthcoming polls.