Reps task INEC on credible polls

Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Matters, yesterday, called on INEC to eschew “any form of corrupt act” during the 2019 general elections.

Chairman of the Committee, Aishatu Dukku (APC, Gombe) made the call yesterday when she led other members of the Committee on an oversight visit to the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

According to her, the lawmakers were at the INEC headquarters to assess the commission’s level of preparedness for credible polls, 75 days to the 2019 general elections.

“The committee is more anxious than the commission because the implementation of the election budget must be 100 per cent. There is also need for the timely assent to, and implementation of the amended 2010 Electoral Act.

“Feelers are that with less than 75 days to the general elections, some questions still beg for answers, such as the total number of registered voters, total number of collected and uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), among others,” Dukku said.

In his response, the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that the total number of registered voters, which stood at 70 million before the 2015 general elections, had been augmented by 14.5 million voters through the continuous voter registration exercise embarked upon by the commission since April 2017.