Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello won’t be disqualified from participating in the November 16 governorship election over claim of double registration said the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu.
Yakubu explained that Bello’s disqualification from the governorship election over alleged double registration would amount to contravening the Electoral Act, adding that the Act does not provide for disqualification as a penalty for committing such an offence.
He made the clarification while explaining why the Kogi governor was allowed to participate in the election, having been indicted during a quarterly consultative meeting with the media in Abuja.
INEC had in 2017 accused the governor of double voter registration.
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The Commission had dismissed two of its officials over their alleged roles in the electoral scandal.
Speaking, Yakubu said: “Under the Electoral Act, double registration is not a condition to disqualify a candidate. In any case, the action we took on the part of the officials that were indicted were administrative based on the terms and conditions of service.
“The action we need to take on non-staff of the commission is to prosecute and we cannot prosecute someone with constitutional immunity. We can only prosecute based on the provision of the Electoral Act.”
