Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the Commission was not under any pressure from any quarters as the nation moves towards the Saturday, February 23, presidential and National Assembly elections.
Prof. Yakubu was responding to questions from journalists, in Abuja, during his daily press chat on level of preparedness of the Commission for the 2019 general elections.
According to the INEC boss, the Commission has no threat to its ICT centres as being speculated in some quarters.
On the complaints from the two leading political parties in the country, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accusing the Commission of alleged bias, Prof. Yakubu said that it was normal for political parties to complain before, during and after elections.
“It is normal for parties to complain and if it is one party that is complaining, one gets a little worried but since it is the two major parties that are complaining, then it means that there is something the INEC is doing right.”
On the position of the Commission regarding the APC in Rivers State, the INEC chairman said the Commission would abide by the pronouncement of the Supreme Court judgement on the matter. “The Supreme Court has made a pronouncement about this and the Supreme Court is the last court according to our Constitution. So all parties must abide with the judgement.
The INEC boss also assured Nigerians and the international community that in spite of the increased size of political parties and ballot papers in this year’s elections, the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections would come out exactly the period it came out during the 2015 general elections.