The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disagreed with President Muhammadu Buhari over his order to security agents to kill ballot box snatchers during the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, that the commission stands by the Electoral Act which “states that persons who snatch election materials are liable to a prison term of two years or maximum fine of N500,000.”
Buhari had said, “I am going to warn anybody who thinks he has enough influence in his locality to lead a body of thugs, snatch ballot boxes or to disturb the voting system, he will do it at the expense of his own life.”
Responding to Buhari’s comment, the INEC chairman said, “The position of the commission is that all violators of the Electoral Act should be punished according to the provisions of the Electoral Act.”
“We’ve achieved 95 % configuration of Card Readers”
Yakubu also said INEC had achieved 95 per cent configuration of the Smart Card Readers to be deployed for the elections.
He said, “I want to report that as of last night, we have achieved 95 per cent configuration of the 180,000 card readers and this process is going to be completed on Wednesday morning (today), one day ahead of schedule.”
Yakubu also disclosed that as at 4p.m. on Monday, all issues related to delivery of materials were identified and virtually addressed, saying ballot papers, result sheets and non-sensitive materials were now in locations across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
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