" ITREALMS: INEC over-burden by 700 court cases – Prof. Mahmood

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

INEC over-burden by 700 court cases – Prof. Mahmood

The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has revealed that the Commission is burdened with over 700 court cases arising from numerous litigations on conducted elections, reports ITRealms.

The chairman, who was speaking at the weekend at a retreat hosted by the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matter at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, disclosed that INEC on weekly basis have to attend to at an average of 12 cases.

In doing this, he said, INEC must engage lawyers and this is a burden on the Commission.
Prof. Mahmood also noted that INEC’s case is not helped by the fact that it is always joined in suits or petitions arising from elections for which it has to pay lawyers to represent the Commission in court. According to the chief electoral umpire, apart from the over 700 court cases it has had to appear in, the Commission has been dragged to court a whopping 12 times in the past one week.

He reiterated the Commission’s commitment to the conduct of credible elections, saying that the journey to electronic voting is a gradual one which will undoubtedly pave the needed way in strengthening the nation’s democracy.

The retreat, which was supported by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), also featured a review of current electoral laws in Nigeria and a status report on amendment bills before the committee.


Participants led by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara also has Chairman, Senate Committee Chairman on INEC, Senator Abubakar Kyari represented by Senator Abu Gumel; Chairperson of the House Committee on Electoral and Political Parties Matter, Hon. Mrs. Aisha Dukku as well as other distinguished members of the committee, equally have the chairman of Zinox Technology Group, Dr. Leo-Stan Ekeh as a keynote speaker.

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