…From Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan…
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reassured the electorate of its preparedness for the forthcoming general elections saying that the noticeable flaws in the recent Anambra State governorship polls would not in anyway jeopardize the 2015 general elections.
The assurance came from the INEC Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Kunle Ogunmola when he hosted the executives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo state council who paid him a courtesy call in his Oyo residence.
The INEC Commissioner, while responding to questions from journalists, explained that indeed the commission has been able to identify the root cause of the Anambra crisis and believes that it is not a general problem that can undermine the credibility of future elections in the country, especially the 2015 elections.
While lamenting that although the situation was blown out of proportion, he identified the non payment of the allowances and omission of some voters name on the electoral register as the problems which were not effectively managed, and which gave rise to the post election crisis.
According to the INEC Resident Commissioner, the commission is already looking at reassessing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the National Youth Service Commission (NYSC) with a view to improving on it, while efforts are also on the way to update the voters registers.
Professor Ogunmola further reasoned that, given the structure put in place by the INEC Chairman, Professor Attaihiru Jega, the commission is working on modalities to ensure that credibility and fairness are not compromised by any official of the commission in future elections.
Commenting on the Osun and Ekiti governorship elections billed to hold this year, the INEC Commissioner expressed the hope that they will never go the Anambra way.
To this end, he urged the voters to ensure they participate in the electoral process by cross-checking their names as soon as the commission display same so that necessary correction would be made before the elections and avoid disenfranchising anybody.