INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at Prof. Abubakar Momoh Memorial Lecture organised by The Electoral Institute TEI, the training and research arm of the commission, in Abuja, yesterday.
Represented by a National Commissioner, Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu, the INEC boss was reacting to the reported amendment of the 2019 election time table by the House of Representatives.
He said: “It is still a proposal by the House of Representatives. I think it is still going to enjoy concurrence of both chambers of the National Assembly for harmonisation as well as input from states.
“As a law-abiding organisation, INEC works with the Electoral Act. If there is a legitimate amendment to the Act, INEC will have no option than to obey, but that must happen first.
“Like I said, the role of INEC is to conduct elections based on the law; if there is a legitimate amendment to the Electoral Act, INEC will obey.
‘’Practically, there is an ECOWAS protocol discouraging amendment of the Electoral Act before the election in less than six months to an election and we still have more than six months.”
Meanwhile, INEC has expressed worry at the proliferation of political parties, saying apart from presenting logistic challenge, Nigeria’s literacy level could affect voters’ choices.
At a retreat organised for political parties, yesterday, in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, represented by his Chief Technical Adviser, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, said: “We are also concerned about the increasing number of political parties and access to the ballot.
“Since the last general elections in 2015, the commission has conducted 178 elections, which is the largest outside the general elections. One of the challenges we have is for political parties to obey their rules.