The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has formally accused the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, of registering for permanent voter card twice, in violation of federal electoral law.<\/p>\n
The electoral body said Bello acted \u201cillegally\u201d to have registered for voter\u2019s card in Abuja and Kogi, but said it could not take action against the governor because he is constitutionally protected from prosecution while in office.<\/p>\n
Bello\u2019s criminal behaviour came to light when photographs showed him being registered for by INEC officials in his office in Lokoja, his state capital. He had earlier been registered in Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Governor\u2019s double registration and doing so outside INEC\u2019s designated centres are both illegal,\u201d INEC\u2019s national commissioner and chairman voter education committee, Solomon Soyebi, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The commission denied authorising any staff or citizen to \u201cre-register him or any citizen or to do so outside our designated CVR centres\u201d.<\/p>\n
Soyebi confirmed Gov. Bello was first registered at Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, on January 30, 2011, but illegally did so again on May 23, during the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise, in his Lokoja, Kogi State, office.<\/p>\n
He said the commission \u201cis taking disciplinary action against the INEC staff involved\u201d, but regretted the governor\u2019s immunity would help him escape prosecution.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for the State Governor, Section 308(1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) precludes INEC from prosecuting him while in office,\u201d Soyebi said, stating further that his second and illegal registration now stands cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, INEC wishes to state that it has cancelled his second and illegal registration forthwith because our Electoral Law and the Commission\u2019s guidelines make no exception for anyone to register more than once and outside the designated areas,\u201d Soyebi said.<\/p>\n
The spokesperson for the governor, Kingsley Fanwo, had said his principal had to register again in Kogi, because nothing had come of efforts to get INEC to transfer his voter\u2019s card from Abuja to Kogi.<\/p>\n
A group, Kogi For Change, in a statement signed by its chairman, Omeiza Yakubu, said it would take legal action in view of the illegality of Bello\u2019s action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impunity that unleashed the governor on the state is at work again and we are not going to take it lightly. As a matter of fact we have decided as a group to take the matter to talk. It is a criminal offence to engage in double registration,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has formally accused the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, of registering for permanent voter card twice, in violation of federal electoral law. The electoral body said Bello acted \u201cillegally\u201d to have registered for voter\u2019s card in Abuja and Kogi, but said it could not take action against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2,4],"tags":[162,163,742,36733,25747],"yoast_head":"\n