JUST IN: JEGA RAISES ALARM...On How Politicians Are Plotting To Rig The 2019 General Elections, Sends Warning Signals

A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Attahiru Jega, on Thursday, warned the Commission to be careful of volunteer INEC staff that will be used in the 2019 general elections.

He revealed that Politicians were sniffing around campuses to compromise Lecturers being used as Electoral Officers; especially for Governorship elections.

He delivered a lecture titled: ‘Prospects and Challenges of Involving Volunteers in Nigeria’s Electoral Process’, at a Public Lecture organised by the University of Lagos Muslim Community, in honour of the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Rahamon Bello.

He stated that INEC in selecting volunteers, should pay more attention to the identification and selection of credible individuals and security officers, to bring about electoral integrity.

He noted that the use of volunteers had gained mileage since 2015, as Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, recruited many volunteers as election monitors and data collators.

“In 2011, the Transition Monitoring Group, a network of the CSOs and professional groups working on elections, mobilised and deployed thousands of volunteers for elections observation and gathering data for parallel results tabulation.

“However, it is worrisome that some corrupt politicians are beginning to find creative ways to compromise Youth Corps members and some students involved in election duties.

“Similarly, as the use of academic staff as collation and Returning Officers has become predictable, corrupt politicians are increasingly snooping around University campuses and INEC offices, especially over Governorship elections.

“They are also inducing Lecturers with money, in the hope of compromising their role in result collation and tabulation.

“So far, there is no evidence that they have succeeded, but the tendency is increasing, and it is of great concern”, Jega said.

He added that the current role of volunteers, as necessary and desirable as it was, left much to be desired, saying it required reformation to maximise its benefit ahead of the 2019 general elections.