The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will not accept the nomination of university lecturers who are card-carrying members or had participated in partisan politics or were convicted of electoral malpractice as Returning and State Collation Officers in the forthcoming polls.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made this known in Abuja, at a meeting with Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.
Yakubu said that for the 2023 general elections collation of results would take place in 8,809 Registration Areas or Wards, 774 Local Government Areas, 36 States, and the FCT that required returning officers for each constituency.
“Put together, we will engage 23,258 personnel as Collation and Returning Officers. It is for this reason that this meeting is crucial.
“We need the support of our universities to source the requisite number of the suitable academic staff of impeccable integrity who must also understand that this is a call to national service.
“As in previous elections, we have requested each University for a specified number and category of academic staff as contained in my letter to the vice-chancellors.
“I must warn that staff who are card-carrying members or have participated in partisan politics should not be nominated.
“Similarly, those who may not be involved in partisan politics but are known to have obvious political leanings should not be nominated.
“Furthermore, those who have been convicted of electoral malpractice must be excluded.”
Yakubu said that INEC would carefully scrutinize the list which must be submitted confidentially in the manner prescribed by the commission in his letter to the Vice Chancellors.
“Like all election duty personnel, each collation and a returning officer will swear to an oath of neutrality.”
Yakubu commended the partnership of Nigerian Universities to conduct elections in Nigeria.
He said that without the involvement of tertiary institutions, especially the universities, INEC would find it extremely difficult to conduct credible elections.
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He said while INEC makes use of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members as ad hoc staff for elections it makes use of academic staff members as election collation and returning officers.
“For the various collation and declaration centers, the Commission draws the required Collation and Returning Officers from the academic staff of our universities, including the Vice Chancellors who serve as Returning Officers for Governorship election and State Collation Officers for Presidential election.
“In spite of a few challenges, this happy partnership has further enhanced the transparency and credibility of the elections in Nigeria as well as public confidence in the process.
“The commission wishes to sustain this partnership,” he said.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of, the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, represented by Deputy Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki commended INEC for its confidence in the Nigerian university system.
“We like to appreciate INEC for always recognizing this constituency. Why have they gone to the civil service proper? Why not to the union? Why not to the bankers?
“I think this underscores the importance, the trust that the nation has in the university system.
“We hope this meeting will turn out to be a productive and fruitful one and at the end of the day as the international community and the nation expect, this election like previous ones will also come to pass and we will have a course to glorify God that Nigeria rose to the occasion,” Rasheed said.
Also, the Chairman, of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof. Lilian Salami pledged that the academic staff delivers their best in the national assignment.
Salami who is also the Vice-Chancellor, of the University of Benin, said if Nigeria is to be celebrated among the comity of nations the academic staff must play their role effectively.
“That is because not only are we training the manpower for this nation but we are also building characters and we, of course, are persons of good character.
“We expect that in any role that we are given, I can almost vouch for that because we have through come out stronger and that we will deliver to this nation.
“At the end of this exercise, we will be proud to have contributed our quota to the development of this country,” Salami said.