The absence of national commissioners may force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to alter the timetable for the conduct of the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States.
The shift in the dates of the two elections is being considered due to the operational challenge posed by the retirement of most of its national commissioners whose tenure have expired, THISDAY has learnt.
Presently, activities at the commission are said to have been greatly hampered due to the non-constitution of a new INEC management board.
Apart from the absence of duly appointed national commissioners and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), INEC is also facing financial constraints occasioned by the freezing of its accounts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for non-compliance with the policy on the transfer of funds to the Treasury Single Account (CBN) as directed by the federal government.
An official at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told THISDAY monday that the acting Chairman of INEC, Mrs. Amina Bala Zakari, had sent two memoranda to the presidency requesting action on the reconstitution of the board of the commission.
The official said the commission was yet to receive a reply from the presidency.
“Zakari has sent two requests to the presidency regarding the composition of the INEC board but no reply has been received at the moment. But we have unconfirmed information that Buhari may be announcing the appointment of INEC commissioners this week,” he said.
According to the timetable released by INEC, governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States have been slated to hold on November 21 and December 5th respectively.
In a statement issued by the Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Dr. Chris O. Iyimoga, the commission said political parties that will field candidates for the Kogi governorship election would start campaigns on July 24 and end them by midnight of November 19, while that of Bayelsa State would commence on September 6 and end on December 3.
But the INEC official said based on current realities, the governorship elections in the two states might not hold on the scheduled dates, because most of the logistics and activities preparatory to the polls have not been carried out while the commission is still faced with the absence of a management board that could make the whole exercise a futile one if not addressed.
