The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has exonerated itself from the underage voting saga in Kano state saying the voter register it produced for the conduct of the Kano local government election was not used in most of the polling units in the state.
Recalls that pictures of children thumb-printing during the exercise, in February, surfaced on the internet with calls for the cancellation of the exercise by opposition parties.
Reacting to the incident, INEC set up a committee to probe the underage voting in the state.
Speaking with journalists while giving a summary of the committee’s report on Friday, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, explained that if there were cases of underage voting in Kano, it was because the register it produced was not used by Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC).
“Accreditation of voters using the permanent voter card (PVC) “largely did not take place,” he said.
“Kano State Independent Electoral Commission requested for and received from INEC the Kano state register of voters for the election.
“The register was produced for use for the elections. However, the register was only sighted in a few polling units. In other words, the register was not used in most of the polling units.
“Given that the register was substantially not used to accredit voters before voting, it is logical to conclude that if underage voting occurred in the election, it was not due to any presence of underage registrants on the register of voters.
“However, after examining some of the images in circulation, the committee found that they have been available long before the Kano local government elections. The few images and video clips from Kano show no accreditation of voters or any relationship with the register of voters.
“There is need and ample room for collaboration between lNEC and all stakeholders to continue to update and improve the national register of voters to eliminate all ineligible registrants from it, including dead persons, aliens and underage registrants.
“INEC should work with the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to ensure continuous improvements in the quality of all elections conducted in Nigeria.”
