Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has commended an adhoc staff of the Commission for his courage in standing by the law in spite of intimidation during Saturday’s Gwaram Federal Constituency bye-election in Jigawa State.
The commendation followed report that a Local Government Chairman tried to vote illegally in the bye-election, but was stopped by the INEC staff despite intimidation.
It was gathered that the Chairman, accompanied by a retinue of his supporters, arrived at Sara Kofar Fada Polling Unit 001 without his PVC and demanded to be allowed to vote without accreditation.
He insisted that he forgot his PVC at home but should be allowed to vote since his name was on the register.
The ad hoc staff refused since doing so is a violation of the Electoral Act which requires every eligible voter to present his/her PVC for accreditation. Consequently, he was turned away. He returned later with his PVC before he was properly accredited and allowed to vote.
The Chairman of INEC personally called the ad hoc staff involved and commended them for adhering to the law and the Commission’s policy of “no PVC, no voting”.
He said a letter of commendation for the exemplary conduct of the ad hoc staff involved will be sent to the State Coordinator of NYSC in Jigawa State.