2023 Elections: We May Relocate Sensitive Materials From CBN - INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu

The Independent National Electoral Commission has disclosed that it would not jeopardize the elections in 2023 while hinting that it might relocate sensitive electoral materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria to another location.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said this during a consultative meeting with the media in Abuja on Thursday May 12, in reaction to being asked about the political ambition and partisanship of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

Yakubu who admitted that the CBN is responsible for the storage and movement of sensitive materials, added that the commission has never doubted the capacity of the CBN to discharge that responsibility.

He said;

“But I understand the context in which the question is asked. But you should also understand the context in which events are unfolding. As we speak, our director, litigation and prosecution is in court.

“There is a case in court. We have been invited to state our own side of the story. We usually refrain from talking about such issues because there is essentially subjudice.

“But we are already started talking about what alternatives are available to us in case we need to change the arrangement for the handling of sensitive materials. We have started thinking about it. We are aware of the situation. We will watch the situation. We still have 9 months before the next general elections.

“Things may be addressed before then. I want to assure you that we will not jeopardize the conduct of the election by creating a misconception around the situation in the process.”

Asides revealing that they would partner with the Economic Financial Crime Commission to check the spending of political parties during the 2023 election, he further disclosed that the provision of the Electoral Act 2022 in the management of results was still basically manual as it involves the recording of results on forms and their delivery to various levels of collation until declaration and returns are made.

Yakubu noted that the law still provides for e-transmission of results, but this would only be done in the event of a dispute during the course of collation.

He stated that there's need to clear the misconception around e-transmission of results, as many Nigerians equate it with electronic voting where voting can take place from any location.

From the brief contained in the implementation procedure for electronic transmission of results, it was gathered that the presiding officer is expected to transmit a clear image of form EC8A (result sheets) for purpose of collation which goes to the INEC Results Viewing Portal.

The PO is also expected to deliver the hard copy of EC8A and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS to the Registration Collation Officer.