The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the commission had no connection with the voters register used in the Kano local government elections in which underage voters allegedly participated.
The chairman of the Commission, Mahmood Yakubu on Friday told journalists in Abuja that the register produced by INEC was not used by Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) in the election.
“Kano State Independent Electoral Commission requested for and received from INEC the Kano State Register of Voters for the election. The Register was produced for use for the elections.
“However, the Register was only sighted in a few polling units. In other words, the Register was not used in most of the polling units. In fact, accreditation using the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) largely did not take place,” he said.
He added this was discovered after the investigation committee had National Commissioner Abubakar Nahuche as Chairman, another National Commissioner, May Agbamuche-Mbu, two Resident Electoral Commissioners (Mike Igini and Kassim Geidam) as well as some Directors and staff of the Commission, who are experts in ICT, as members.
The INEC Boss added that if underaged voting occurred in Kano as claimed by some reports INEC Register was not used.
“Given that the Register was substantially not used to accredit voters before voting, it is logical to conclude that if underaged voting occurred in the election, it was NOT due to any presence of underaged registrants on the Register of Voters.
“However, after examining some of the images in circulation, the Committee found that they have been available long before the Kano Local Government Elections. The few images and video clips from Kano show no accreditation of voters or any relationship with the Register of Voters,” he said.
He emphasised further that INEC was not in any way involved in organising the Kano State Local Government election beyond the legal requirement that the register of voters compiled by INEC should be used in all Local Government elections nationwide.
“The conduct of that election was entirely the responsibility of KANSIEC,” Yakubu said.
The investigation committee according to the INEC Chairman has since submitted its Report.
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