Election: INEC to declare Presidential race winner Wednesday

OBIORA IFOH, Abuja

Winner of the hotly contested presidential election holding this Saturday would be declared next Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

This is as INEC assured Nigerians that even with 73 presidential candidates and over 84 million voters, it would announce results of the presidential election the same period as it was done in the 2015 general election.INEC had Wednesday, April 1, 2015 announced the final result of presidential election at exactly 2.55 a.m. after days of collation of results from across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC Chairman, while addressing journalists and election observers in Abuja on Wednesday said, “Let me repeat here that even though this time around we have more presidential candidates than 2015, we have more registered voters than we had in 2015, the size of the result sheet is bigger than we had in 2015 but we are committed to concluding the process for the Presidential election roughly around the same time that we concluded the 2015 general election.

“I understand that there is greater urgency particularly following the extension and particularly for those who are covering the election so that they do not stay more than is expected for the outcome of the election. We will whatever we can to speedily conclude the election consistent with the provisions of the law. We won’t sacrifice due process for speed. But, we will make sure we balance speed and what we are supposed to do under the law”, he said.

Yakubu further announced that INEC has delivered election materials to Local Government Areas in 10 States of the Federation including Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina, Osun, Ogun, Oyo and Taraba.

Giving update on the preparations for the polls, the INEC Chairman said, “at yesterday’s briefing, we reported that we achieved 95 per cent configuration of the Smart Card Readers (SCR) nationwide. The Card Readers were introduced in the 2015 general elections to facilitate the accreditation of voters using the PVCs.

“They are configured to specific polling units and only open for use at 8am on Election Day. They automatically shut down by 10 pm in order to forestall any illegal use before the appointed time of elections. I am pleased to report that we have now achieved 100 per cent completion of the configuration. We are good to go on this score.

“Similarly, I briefed you yesterday that our State offices had commenced the process of inviting stakeholders to the Central Bank of Nigeria to examine the retrieved materials deployed last week and to witness the batching of materials according to Local Government Areas (LGAs). Reports from the States indicate full compliance.

“Similarly, I briefed you yesterday that having moved the sensitive materials to the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the forward deployment to the 774 LGAs nationwide will commence today Wednesday 20thFebruary 2019 and be concluded tomorrow Thursday 21stFebruary 2019.

“Already, Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina, Osun, Ogun, Oyo and Taraba States have commenced the movement of materials to LGAs today. Other States will do so and conclude tomorrow. We will give a full rendition of movement to LGAs across all States of the Federation tomorrow.

“We have been making good progress on logistics. Similarly, all other arrangements for the movement of personnel from the LGAs to the Wards are on course. We will fully brief you tomorrow at 3pm”.

On threats to INEC ICT facilities, Yakubu said, “I want to assure you that much of our ICT facilities are offline. And, it is almost impossible to attack something that is offline. You can only attack something that is online. So much of it is actually offline.

“But, I have taken note of what you have said and we will continue to strengthen security around the ICT. But, at the moment we have no any panic about any possibility of attack on the facility or compromise our ICT facilities”.

Asked whether APC candidates in Rivers would be on ballot papers as requested by the party’s lawyers,   he said, “I think the supreme court has a number of pronouncement on that matter. And, for that reason the commission has taken the position made by the judgement of the supreme court. Under our constitution, the supreme court is the last court of resort for any citizen.

“There must be an end to litigations as lawyers say. And, once a Supreme Court makes a pronouncement, all essence of authority in the paper are bound to obey the judgement of the Supreme Court.  And, the commission as a law abiding institution, is bound by the judgement.

“That is my answer to the question and there is nowhere else to go. We will go by the judgements of all the courts but once it gets to the Apex court, that is the end to the litigation”, the INEC Chairman said.