EDO, ONDO POLLS: INEC reveals what it’ll do if politicians disrupt electoral process

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned politicians planning to undermine or disrupt the September 19 and October 10 governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states respectively.

INEC boss, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu while speaking on Wednesday at a virtual meeting on “Democracy and Elections in West Africa” organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC, threatened that the commission would not declare the results of the polls if politicians disrupted the processes.

According to him, INEC was commitment to free, fair and credible elections, warning that when it is established that an election was disrupted, the commission would not make a declaration on the outcome of such an election.

He said, “Where the election is disrupted and the commission cannot vouch for the integrity of the process, we will not go ahead to make any declaration.”

“There would be no point in making a declaration in such situation because the commission would not endorse fraud or function outside the minimum standard set for the conduct of credible elections anywhere,” Yakubu added.

On litigations, Prof. Yakubu said, “INEC is one of the most litigated against public institutions in the country. In the last one and the half years over the conduct of the general elections and party primaries, we have been dragged to court over 2,000 times; and it is counting.”

This came days after Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, reaffirmed the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties.

The judge, who delivered the judgment in a suit filed by Hope Democratic Party (HDP) against INEC, reaffirmed that the commission was empowered by the 1999 Constitution to deregister political parties that failed to meet provisions of Section 225(a) of the constitution.