Election result will be announced as soon as collated
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Collation and announcement of today’s presidential election result will be done quickly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised.
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu gave the assurance at a media briefing at the National Collation Centre in Abuja.
“We will ensure that it is done speedily but I can’t put a finger on the number of days or hours it would take. But it will be done speedily.
“We are aware of the anxiety and the need for us to conduct the process quickly, so it will be concluded quickly,” he pledged.
Yakubu said the INEC has received cash provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and distributed it to states to pay for unbanked services.
“It is not all our operations that are paid for by cash. In fact, the bank of our operations for the procurement of work, goods, and services are paid for electronically but we need a small amount of money to pay for the unbanked who render critical services, particularly at the local level,” Yakubu explained
“We anticipated this challenge and we interacted with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the CBN promised us that for the little amount that we need to pay for services in cash they will make the funds available to us and they have done so and these funds have already been accessed by our state offices for the election.
“That’s why the movement of personnel and materials in the last couple of days ahead of the election tomorrow [today] has gone unhindered.”
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No encumbrances to electoral process
“The processes will not suffer encumbrances. It is not every aspect of our operations that we need to be remunerated by cash. Only a small aspect of our activities will be remunerated by cash,” Yakubu added, via The PUNCH.
He also touched on the death of Labour Party Enugu East Senatorial candidate Oyibo Chukwu who was gunned down on Wednesday.
“Remember a party lost its candidate and the law says we should allow the party to replace its candidate if it wishes to continue to participate in the election.
“So, I expect the party will conduct primaries as early as next week and submit the name of the candidate to the Commission.
“It only follows logically that that candidate should also campaign ahead of the election but the law is very clear that campaign for all elections will end 24 hours before the election.”
