Elections in 2023: We Got A “Substantial Portion” Of Money From CBN, Says Yakubu

Two days before the presidential and National Assembly elections, the INEC chairman verified receipt of the monies on Thursday during a press conference in Abuja on the commission’s operations.

In light of the dearth of naira, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) claims to have obtained a “significant chunk” of the cash it asked from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Two days before the presidential and National Assembly elections, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, verified receipt of the funds on Thursday during a press conference in Abuja on the commission’s operations.

This occurs two weeks after Yakubu met with Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to discuss the need for money for logistical operations related to the conduct of the elections, on February 7.

He stated that the majority of the little amount of cash that had been requested from the Central Bank of Nigeria was currently being distributed to all of the offices of the commission.

The movement of sensitive materials yesterday from the Central Bank’s branches to our local government areas was substantially assisted by the fact that a significant portion of it had previously been received by our offices nationally.

“By tomorrow, we’ll group them, and on Friday, we’ll transport them to the centres for registration. They will subsequently be transported to the voting locations early on Saturday morning.

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Yakubu assured all stakeholders of a favourable atmosphere for the electoral process to take place in response to security concerns surrounding the polls.

The head of INEC said that since 2019, there have been 50 attacks on the organisation in 15 states.

He said that the commission had recovered, though, and that sufficient security would be provided for voters, workers, and observers during the polls by the security services present on the ground.

“Unknown assailants targeted a number of the commission’s facilities across the nation.

We have been further guaranteed that our facilities, personnel, voters, observers, the media, and people will be safe throughout the election, he said, adding that he was delighted that the country has fully recovered from the assaults.

Yakubu expressed confidence that the possibility of vote-buying, which he described as not only illegal but also unethical, would be “vastly reduced” as a result of INEC working in concert with other agencies prior to and on the day of the election.

“The prohibition on using cellphones and other cameras inside voting booths is still in effect. We still have the vote boxes close to the polling cubicles and out of the way of the party agents,” he remarked.