As reports and confessions about the 2015 elections keep hitting the headlines, INEC, in a bid to cleanse the system, has suspended 205 staff over various unwholesome roles in the general elections.
Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said this in his keynote address at national colloquium organised by the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG) on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the interdiction, recommended by INEC’s Appointments, Promotion and Discipline Committee (APDC), was the highest so far.
He said that commission’s electoral officers were already in the field working towards the success of the 2019 elections.
“We have to put the right people in place as electoral officers and assistant electoral officers for the 2019 general elections.
“The credibility of an election depends on the credibility of the election manager; the credulity of the election manger depends on the credibility of the staff.
“The APDC recommended the interdiction of 205 staff found culpable in various roles they played arising from the 2015 general elections—this is the highest number of interdictions since the history of the commission.
“We have within them some of the most patriotic staff in the country; but anybody found wanting will be dealt with accordingly.’’
Mahmud said that constructive criticisms from the public had helped the commission to get better in delivering its mandate vis-a-vis conducting credible elections.
A report released recently just indicted Cambridge Analytuca for skewing the 2007 election in favour of the PDP, the former ruling party.
INEC’s complivity in this is yet to be ascertained, though.