President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of nine new Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a term of five years each, subject to the confirmation of the Nigerian Senate.
Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, in a statement on Wednesday, said the appointment was done based on powers vested in him by Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, Amended) and Section 6 of the Electoral Act (2022).
The appointees include Mr Isah Shaka Ehimeakne, Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner; Mr Bamidele Agbede, Ekiti State Resident Electoral Commissioner; Mr Jani Adamu Bello, Gombe State Resident Electoral Commissioner; and Dr Taiye Ilayasu, Kwara State Resident Electoral Commissioner
Others are Dr Bunmi Omoseyindemi, Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner; Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Nasarawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner; Prof. Mohammed Yalwa, Niger State Resident Electoral Commissioner; Dr Anugbum Onuoha, Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner; and Mr Abubakar Fawa Dambo, Zamfara State Resident Electoral Commissioner.
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“President Tinubu expects the new appointees to abide by the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct in the discharge of their duties, in accordance with his determination to facilitate the establishment of a new and sustainable standard of transparent, fair and conflict-free electoral conduct in Nigeria,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the commission has said that this year’s November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states are critical to it.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the quarterly consultative meeting with civil society organisations (CSOs).
“Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi governorship elections are critical to the commission. As you are aware, the commission conducted a mock accreditation involving actual voters in designated polling units in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states two weeks ago.
“By doing so, we tested the efficacy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for both biometric authentication of voters and the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
“Some of you observed the mock accreditation exercise and viewed the results on the IReV portal. We have received no adverse report so far. By this, we are encouraged that the test was successful, and we look forward to improved performance of the BVAS in voter accreditation and result upload in the forthcoming governorship elections and beyond,” Yakubu said.
He also noted that many of the CSOs were deploying teams of observers for the three elections and that overall, INEC has accredited 145 organisations deploying 7,896 observers, whose accredited organisations would soon be invited to collect the identity cards for their observers.
“Similarly, CSOs have on several occasions urged the commission to intercede with the security agencies to grant you unimpeded access to voting and collation locations. I want to reassure you that we will continue to do so as we engage with the security agencies both at the national level and in the three states.
“At the same time, I wish to remind all accredited observers to strictly adhere to the code of conduct for election observation,” the INEC boss said.
Responding on behalf of the CSOs, the Director of Justice and Equity Organisation (JEO), Mr Funsho Tunde, said they have some concerns pertaining to the election coverage and are glad that efforts are being made by INEC to ensure the polls are free, fair,credible and that observers are provided with adequate security.
