Chairmanship nominee of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, says over 1 million Nigerians of voting age are disenfranchised in every general election due to the nation’s current electoral laws.
He said that the current electoral laws only allow voters to vote in the polling unit where they were registered.
Prof Yakubu said that by virtue of this provision, many eligible voters get disenfranchised simply because of not being around their polling units during the election period.
According to him, INEC’s permanent and ad-hoc staff deployed for election duties, journalists and election observers miss out on voting due to the provision.
Prof Yakubu spoke Thursday at his confirmation hearing organised by the Senate Committee on INEC.
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“We engaged about one million ad hoc staff during the last general elections. This means that the staff and others deployed for election duties did not vote,” the nominee said.
He called for an amendment of the law to enable eligible voters exercise their civic duties wherever they find themselves during election period.
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The nominee disclosed that the electoral commission needed to construct strong rooms in the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT to prevent card readers and other sensitive election materials from burning in case of fire incidents.
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