Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will transmit all results manually during the Kogi and Bayelsa states governorship elections on November 16. INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this on Thursday at the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room Dialogue Session with Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) of Kogi and Bayelsa states in Abuja.
Yakubu, who was represented by Mr. Festus Okoye, a national commissioner of INEC, said that the commission would adhere to the rules and regulations of the 2010 electoral act as amended. “While section 52, subsection 2 of the electoral act gives the commission the discretion to make a determination relating to the procedure to adopt in any election.
“Sections 63, 64,65,66,67 and 73 of the same electoral act prescribed the mode of transmission of election results and it is manually. “So we are going to conform to the provisions of the electoral act as amended and also conform to provisions about regulations and guidelines in relations to the transmission of the election results in the spirit of the law.” Yakubu, however, reiterated that the commission would deploy and use the smart card readers for the purposes of verification and authentication of voters during the elections.
He said that the process was part of the commission’s guidelines and part of the accreditation process. He said that the ad hoc staff found wanting in the last general elections had been barred from the commission and handed over to law enforcement agencies for prosecution. He advised political parties to be guided by the consequences of preventing the card readers from being used as itemised in the guidelines. Mr Clement Nwankwo, Converner, Situation Room, said that the event was supported by DFID to promote free, fair and credible elections.
Nwankwo said that the event was organised to dialogue with stakeholders to know their level of preparedness for the elections and how to prevent irregularities. DCP Kabir Gwarzo, Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations, Kogi State, said that 25,000 police were deployed in addition to those already on ground in Kogi State for the elections. Gwarzo said that four security agents would be attached to each polling station without guns except for those on special patrol and hotspot zones.
The RECs of Kogi State, Prof. James Apam and his Bayelsa counterpart Pastor Monday Tom, said arrangement has been concluded for the smooth conduct of the elections haven already received the non-sensitive materials. They assured Nigerians that all measures had been put in place for the smooth conduct of the elections.
