By Enoh Blessing, Outlook Media ABUJA.
Hon. Chairman, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, and Commission members are holding a meeting with Political Parties Leaders at INEC Headquarters Abuja.
The meeting is focused on the Commission’s preparations for the upcoming electoral activities for the year 2025.
REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN, INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU, AT THE FIRST REGULAR CONSULTATIVE MEETING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES HELD AT THE INEC CONFERENCE ROOM, ABUJA, ON WEDNESDAY 22ND JANUARY 2025
Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)
Chairmen and other Leaders of Political Parties
National Commissioners
The Secretary to the Commission
Other Senior Officials of the Commission
Members of the INEC Press Corps
Ladies and Gentlemen
- It is my pleasure to welcome you all to our first regular quarterly consultative meeting for the year 2025. It is therefore appropriate to start by wishing you a blissful new year.
- You may recall that last year began and ended with a number of elections. Overall, the Commission conducted 51 re-run elections, bye-elections and off-cycle elections in 2024. In February, the Commission conducted re-run elections in 39 constituencies combined with nine bye-elections arising from vacancies in the national and State Assemblies nationwide. We also conducted two Governorship elections, the last one held in November 2024 in Ondo State.
- Furthermore, we had several electoral activities, including the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ahead of the Edo and Ondo State Governorship elections, the publication of our 2023 General Election Report and the release of the Review Report containing 142 recommendations arising from our in-house and external engagements with stakeholders. Similarly, we sustained our engagements with stakeholders. During the year, we had a total of 16 regular quarterly consultative meetings with political parties, civil society organisations, the media and security agencies in addition to extraordinary meetings as the need arose.
- Sadly, in 2024 our State office in Benin City was flooded but we were able to recover ahead of the election. Elsewhere, two of our Local Government offices were attacked in incidents unrelated to elections or electoral activities. In Sankara, the headquarters of Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State, our office, along with other public buildings and private institutions in the area, was attacked during a local protest against insecurity. In Owa Oyibu, the headquarters of Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, our office was destroyed in a fire incident. The Commission is glad that our staff were safe in the two locations. However, many electoral assets were lost and the buildings substantially damaged.
