Romanus Ugwu, in Yenagoa
History was made on Thursday in Yenagoa, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all the 45 political parties that nominated candidates for next weekend’s Bayelsa state governorship election, signed a peace accord.
In attendance to witness the epoch-making event were, Chairman Bayelsa State Council of Traditional Rulers, Diete-Spiff, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Adamu Abubakar, the Director General National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brid-General Ibrahim Shauibu, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) from Adamawa, Anambra, Delta, National Commissioners Festus Okoye, Okey Ibeanu, representatives of Nigeria Immigration Services, Nigerian Correctional Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps among many other stakeholders.
In his brief remarks, commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, reassured the readiness of the commission for the poll, just as he lleaded with stakeholders to cooperate with the commission.
Delivering her speech, National Commissioner in charge of Bayelsa and chairman Legal Services committee, May Agbamuche read riot act, wsrning that vote buyers, ballot box snatchers risk heavy imprisonment of 12 months and/or N1 million fine.
“Another very disturbing trend is the use of hate speech and provocativ language during political campaigns. This is unacceptable and is an electoral offence under section 95 ( l ) and (2) of the Electoral Act.
“It is unethical to use language or words that will incite violence in the name of politics, as is character assassination equally destructive and damaging to the very core of our society.
“Stakeholders should rise against this and bring it to an end. With social media hate speech has plunged to ever greater depths.
“A person who contravenes this provision commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a maximum fine of Nl,000,0000.00 or 12 months imprisonment. For a political party, a fine of N2,000,000.00 will be levied in the first instance and Nl,000,000.00 for any subsequent offence.
“We must here also highlight that it is an offence under section 23 (l)(a) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) for a person to be in possession of a voter’s card that is not bearing his or her name unless he can legally justify why he is in possession of such a card.
“You have a duty to tell your members, constituents and the general electorate that it is an offence to buy or sell a voter’s card. Any person who buys or on‘crs to buy any voters’ card whether on his own or on behalf of any other person, commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to a fine of N1,000,000.00 or to l2 months imprisonment, or to both ad punishment, as stated in section 120(l)(c) and (d) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended)
“There are certain election day offences which I must additionally draw your attention to which are unacceptable within a distance of 300 metres of a polling unit on Election Day.
“These are canvassing & soliciting for votes, persuading any voter not to vote for any particular candidate, loitering around a polling unit or being in possession of any offensive weapon. A person who commits any of these of the above-stated offences is liable on conviction to a fine of N1000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of six months.
“The particularly odious offence of ballot paper, ballot box and election material snatching is prevalent in our society today. Please note that a person who commits such an offence of snatching or destruction of any election material is liable on conviction to 24 months imprisonment. And in this situation zero votes will be recorded against that polling unit,” the commission warned.
Stressing readiness of the commission, INEC boss, said: “The Commission has also delivered all non-sensitive materials to our office here in Yenagoa long ago. They have all been sorted out, categorized and batched, ready to be delivered to the LGAs, Wards and polling units. The sensitive materials are also ready and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is delivering them to Bayelsa State this weekend.
“The normal process of inspection and distribution within the State will be done in the presence of party agents, security agencies, observers and the media. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Bayelsa State will give the date and time for the inspection and the itinerary for deployment in line with the Commission’s standard practice for the inspection and movement of sensitive materials.
“The Smart Card Readers (SCRs) have been configured and will be added to other sensitive materials and delivered together. Once again, let me reiterate that it is mandatory to use the SCRs for voter accreditation and authentication.
“Let me also reiterate that voter inducement in all forms, including vote-buying at polling units is a violation of the law. The ban on the use of mobile phones and other photographic devices in the voting cubicles is still in force and will be strictly enforced and monitored.
“I urge all stakeholders to continue to eschew violence and maintain peaceful conduct during the election. It is our collective responsibility to safeguard the process and to protect all election duty staff including the Corps members who serve at the polling units which is the basic level of the voting process,” he said.