Preparatory to 2019 general election in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has excluded all its National Commissioners from the collation of presidential poll results and other strands of elections.
The commission has also decided to throw open its Situation Room to accredited observers, civil society organisations and the media.
It was gathered that neither the widely-criticised National Commissioner Amina Zakari nor any of the National Commissioners will be involved in the collation of presidential poll results.
According to The Nation, no National Commissioner is in charge of collation of presidential poll results. It is true that there is what is called Collation Centre but it is separate from the Collation Secretariat, which is responsible for the collation of results.
”No National Commissioner will be appointed into the Secretariat Committee. So, Hajiya Amina Zakari or any National Commissioner does not have anything to do with the collation of results.”
“Related to the Collation Centre is our Situation Room. The international observers and other stakeholders want us to open up the Situation Room.
”The commission met on Saturday and decided that we will grant visitation rights to accredited observers, civil society organisations and the media.
”Observers might not be allowed to see all things but they can come in and out of the Situation Room. The greatest thing INEC has done with this is openness,” the source added.
Recall that Zakari had been widely criticised weeks ago after she was appointed as head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre.