Nigeria News

Yaya Bello will be punished for double registration, says INEC

Published

2 March 2018

9:19 AM

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The Independent National Electoral Commission says its allegation of double registration against Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State still stands.Naija News learnt

INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kogi, Prof. James Apam, said in Lokoja yesterday.

“The allegation of double registration has not been swept under the carpet; we cannot prosecute Bello now because he enjoys immunity as a sitting governor.“He has committed an offence and we shall prosecute him when he is out office,”

Apam explained that the recent issuance of a temporary voter card to the governor did not mean that the issue of double registration had been swept under the carpet.

Apam, however, explained that a temporary voter card was issued to the governor based on legal advice, saying that the governor would surely face the consequences of his crime at the appropriate time. He said that INEC’s legal advisers had advised the electoral body not to deny Bello his right to vote and be voted for since he could not be tried at the moment.

INEC had last year declared the second registration done by Bello, on May 23 at the Government House, Lokoja as illegal and contrary to the Electoral Act. The electoral body, through one of its National Electoral Commissioners, Mr. Emmanuel Shoyebi, said that the registration, which was done outside the designated registration centre, also amounted to double registration which is a criminal offence.Shoyebi also said that Bello did his first registration at Wuse Zone 11 in Abuja, on January 30, 2011.
however, On the ongoing Continued Voters Registration, Apam made it known to Naija News INEC had registered 176,866 new voters in Kogi between April 2017 and February, 2018.The Resident Electoral Commissioner said that the new registrants comprised of 90,553 male voters and 86,313 female voters.During the period, he said that the organisation had transferred 7,169 permanent voter cards and replaced 9,400 lost or defaced cards.

Similarly, INEC said it distributed 57,148 permanent cards to their owners within the same period, while 202,289 voter cards were still uncollected. Apam restated INEC’s readiness to conduct free and acceptable elections in 2019, urging all stakeholders to help in achieving that. Naija News gathered