The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has vowed to get to the root of allegations of underage persons in the just concluded local government election in Kano State.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the Commission, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi who stated this yesterday in a reaction to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, press release calling for Professor Yakubu’s resignation over the incident, said that the Commission had already set up a Committee to look into the allegations.
He then advised the Party to wait for the outcome of the finding of the Committee which said normally would determine the next level of action to be taken on the matter.
According to him, “we appreciate the concern of the PDP and the danger in the narrative of the underage voting, we want to assure the Party and all Nigerians that INEC is determined to get to the root of the matter.
“You will recall that following the Commission meeting held in Lagos, the Chairman announced that a committee to be chaired by a national commissioner and other management staff of the Commission including the Voters Register Department will investigate the matter.
“The question is, did the Kano State Electoral Commission used our Voter Register, this and many other concerns will be investigated. We think PDP should exercise patience to see how the issue will be handled.
“Since the new Commission under Yakubu came in we have been improving on the electoral processes and only two out of all the elections conducted understand his leadership.
“As far as reviewing Voter register and handling raised issues, we are on the same page with PDP and concerned Nigerians.
On the issue of EFCC monitoring of parties campaign fund, Oyekanmi said that the call by the electoral empire was not targeted at any of the political parties or politicians.
He said that the collaboration of INEC and EFCC started when some staff of the Commission were accused of corruption after the 2015 general elections.
According to him, “The staff were investigated by the anti-graft agency without any interference, INEC gave the needed support and some of the staff were interdicted.
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