The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls will hold nationwide despite the naira scarcity and the growing protests as a result of the crisis in some parts of the country.
This was made known on Saturday by the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, during his visit to the training centers for Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers as part of activities to perfect the commission’s preparation for Saturday’s presidential and national assembly elections.
The INEC boss allayed fears over the cash crunch and some violent protests, saying the commission is working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and security agencies.
INEC has received assurances
- Yakubu said, “The Central Bank has assured us that we will not suffer any encumbrances in that regard, no there are no issues with respect to that.
- “On what is happening around the country – the protests – is a security matter and security agencies have assured and reassured us that they will secure the environment for elections to hold peacefully nationwide. So we have no issues in that respect.”
Corps members must be in the custody of the BVAS
The INEC Chairman who tasked the trainee Corps members to be loyal to Nigeria, Nigerians and not political parties, also told them that on no account should they leave the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the custody of another.
He warned that the corps members are going to be tracked to ensure accountability.
After visiting the training centres, Yakubu, INEC officials, and journalists proceeded to the International Conference Centre (ICC) for inspection.
The INEC boss said that they will perform basically three activities in this ICC which include; serving as the national collation center for the collation, announcement of winners, and presentations of the Certificate of Returns (CoR) to the president and vice president-elect; as well as the senators and House of Representatives members elect.
For the record
- The naira redesign policy by the CBN has caused a lot of hardship to Nigerians who have been having difficulty in having access to these new naira notes.
- The scarcity of these new N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes has led to violent protests across the country, heightening tension in the polity and apprehension that the protests could affect the upcoming general election negatively. Some politicians even alleged that agents of the Federal Government were planning to use the cash swap policy to incite crises for military take-over or possibly install an interim national government, an allegation the government denies.
