The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said the body won’t relent in tackling vote buying during the 2023 general elections.
Speaking in a stakeholders summit at Abuja on Monday, the chairman addressed the influence of money in the 2023 general election. Yakubu said INEC harboured no illusion that it was going to be easy to root out the negative influence of money on the election, saying however that it was determined to tackle it.
In his words, the body’s chairman said: “We fully realized that today’s initiative will not go down well with people who may not be committed to the growth of our electoral system and the consolidation of our democracy. “We expect them to fight back. There will be both covert and overt pressure, countervailing actions and even threats by these vested interests.
“I wish to reiterate that our loyalty is to Nigeria and our allegiance is to Nigerians. We are committed to working with the collaborating agencies to see that this initiative succeeds in the 2023 general election and beyond.
“The commission is aware that legal provisions and the actions of the agencies are critical but will not be enough to completely root out the deep-seated cancer of corrupt money in our election,” he said.
The INEC chairman, further added: “The concerted actions of citizens are crucial. Citizens must reject inducements to sway their votes through vote-buying.
“They must also engage effectively in stopping the negative use of money in our electoral process generally by reporting cases to INEC and other agencies.
In addition, civil society organizations should make this a major plank of both their pre-election and election observation activities.
“Financial institutions, religious organizations, traditional institutions, the media, civic bodies and, above all, citizens must also join in this fight.”
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu rounded off his speech by opening the lid on the signing of the revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the road and marine transport unions today.
He said: “Tuesday, December 20, 2022, the Commission will also take a major step in the preparation for the 2023 General Election with the signing of the revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the road and marine transport unions including the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) for land transportation and the Marine Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) for the riverine areas.
“Permit me to seize this opportunity to invite you all to the event which is crucial to the movement of personnel and materials and the early commencement of polls on Election Day,” Prof. Yakubu concluded.
