The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu on Monday said the Commission has not been under any pressure to do what is wrong.
He made this known at the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) headquarters in Abuja, during a meeting with the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu and Commissioners of Police and above.
Yakubu responded to a question from journalists over recent allegations by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that INEC is compromised and under pressure to rig the 2019 elections.
He said, “This is to be expected in an election year when people make all sorts of insinuations but I want to tell you that we as a Commission have never been under any pressure to do what is wrong.”
He added that, “We will never compromise our integrity to do what the law says that we shouldn’t, and for the 2019 general elections, I want to assure and reassure Nigerians that votes and nothing but votes will count.”
He said, “With this level of cooperation from the security agencies, I want to assure you that Nigerians will have a pleasant voting experience in 2019.”
Earlier, while addressing the acting IGP and the senior police officers, Yakubu said, the police and the INEC are working on a new template for the protection of electoral processes in Nigeria.
He said INEC is responsible for conducting election and the police responsible for protection of the entire process, from the INEC officials through to observers, the media, civil society and voters.
He said much depends on the work of the police, particularly their professionalism and neutrality, adding that, “There is also intense global interest in 2019; Nigeria achieved free, fair, credible elections in 2015; now is the time to show the world that what we achieved in 2015 was not a fluke.”
He said, “This morning I had meetings with the long term European Union observation mission and the ECOWAS long term observer mission, we are expecting the Commonwealth, African and many other observation mission.”
“Our responsibility is to safeguard the processes, the Police has no candidate in the 2019 general elections, INEC is not a political party, we have no candidate in the elections…our allegiance is to the people of Nigeria and not any party or candidate,” he stated.
