INEC: After Atiku’s ‘Vote For Northerner’ Comment, Tinubu’s Insults, Mahmood Yakubu Warns Candidates Against Divisiveness

With 100 days left to the 2023 general election, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has cautioned political parties and their respective candidates to eschew violence and divisive tendencies during campaigns leading to the polls.

His warning followed remarks made by the presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar — which some Nigerians have deemed to be in violation of some provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Atiku, during a town hall organized by the Arewa House in October, asked northerners to reject candidates of Igbo and Yoruba ethnic extractions in the 2023 presidential election. During the meeting in Kaduna, the PDP presidential candidate said the northern people do not “need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate” and should therefore vote for him because he is “a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”

The remark was greeted with backlash, prompting Atiku’s campaign to issue a press statement claiming its candidate was joking when he made the comment.

Section 97, Subsection 1 of the Electoral Act forbids candidates or any association from engaging in campaigning “on religious, tribal, or sectional reason for the purpose of promoting or opposing a particular political party or the election of a particular Candidate”

Doing so, the Act says such candidate or groups would have committed an offence punishable via a fine of “N1,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both ; and (b) in the case of a political party, to a maximum fine of N10,000,000.”

Similarly, Tinubu at his campaign rally in Jos on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, flouted a provision of the Electoral Act against hurling insults at opponents.

Section 92, Subsection 1 of the Act provides that “A political campaign or slogan shall not be tainted with abusive language directly or indirectly likely to injure religious, ethnic, tribal or sectional feelings.

Subsection 2 says “Abusive, intemperate, slanderous or base language or insinuations or innuendoes designed or likely to provoke violent reaction or emotions shall not be employed or used in political campaigns.”

Meanwhile, Yakubu in his message told Nigerians and candidates running for various positions that the commission will keep them abreast of all its activities as the elections draw nearer.

He spoke in the message titled ‘100 Days To The 2023 General Election’ which was signed by him.

The INEC chairman also assured the electorates and political parties that the commission will conduct free and credible elections through the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

His words, “As I have said repeatedly, the Commission’s allegiance is to Nigeria. Our loyalty is to Nigerians who want free, fair, credible and verifiable elections supported by technology, which guarantees transparent accreditation and upload of polling unit results for citizens to view in real-time on Election Day. It is for these reasons that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) were introduced. There is no going back on the deployment of BVAS and IReV for the 2023 General Election.

“Similarly, we will continue with our regular engagement with political parties, civil society organisations, the media and other critical stakeholders. Above all, Nigerians deserve the right to know about the progress we are making and the challenges (if any) we confront in our preparations for the General Election. Accordingly, in a couple of weeks, the Commission will start bi-weekly media briefings followed by weekly briefings as we get closer to the election. In the week leading to the election, there will be daily briefings.

“I seize this opportunity to call on all citizens to participate fully in all electoral activities, particularly the ongoing display of the Register of Voters for claims and objections, as well as collection of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs). I also call on political parties and political leaders to conduct their campaigns peacefully, eschewing divisiveness, rancour and violence.

“As Nigerians are aware, election is a multi-stakeholder activity. We wilI continue to play our part diligently and conscientiously. We appeal to all stakeholders and, above all, citizens to play their own part so that working together, we can have the elections that Nigerians yearn for, and which the world expects from us.”