…..INEC Says Governor’s Second Registration Cancelled
Crisis is said to be currently looming in Kogi state following Governor Yahaya Bello double voter registration carried out by an INEC personnel in his office in government house, Lokoja.
Governor Bello, HardReporters gathered had before now in 2011 registered in Abuja before embarking on a second time registration, an action which has generated series of backlashes and glamour for his resignation as governor of the state.
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 Mr. Bello’s action.
At the Kogi governorship election tribunal, the governor’s Chief of Staff, David Onoja, standing as a witness, had said his principal never registered to vote in Kogi, but Abuja.
However, in the course of the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration, CVR, exercise, Mr. Bello registered again, this time in his office, in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.
“We got really concerned when we saw the picture of the Governor (Yahaya Bello) being registered by an INEC official inside his office,” said Kogi For Change. “Is the Government House a Registration Centre What happened to the INEC law that forbids double registration since the governor is already registered in Abuja? Then the question arises: Is the Government House the Ward or Unit of Alhaji Yahaya Bello?
“Was he not supposed to register in his Unit? Or is INEC going to create a special voting point for him inside his office during the next election? The 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,” the group said.
Addressing a press conference, Chairman of the State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Hadi Ametuo, called for the immediate resignation of the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, over double registration and make way for the Deputy Governor of the State, Simon Achuba, to emerge as his possible replacement.
The party chairman along with other party leaders in the state including, Senators Dino Melaye, Mohammed Ohiare, Ocheja Dangana, and Abdulrahman Abubakar, pointed out that the APC would not fold its arm and allow Bello destroy its image and integrity.
Also speaking, Mr. Dino Melaye, representing Kogi-West, who has been at loggerhead with the governor over some political interest, called for the immediate resignation of the Governor stressing that the governor’s action has shown that he was not a registered voter in Kogi State, abinitio.
“Bello should resign immediately. We are not only going to start civil mass action, but we are also going to mobilise the Kogi State House of Assembly for his impeachment, if the Governor fails to resign.” Malaye said.
Reacting to tge development, the Kogi State Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Spokesperson, Mr. Bode Ogunmola, stated that the development has vindicated the party’s earlier stance on Bello’s voter’s registration status.
“We wish to make it clear that the present APC-led government in Kogi, was foisted on the people of the State. It is not untrue that Bello was not legally qualified, and had no moral standing to run for election in Kogi State, in the first place, since he has never been a registered voter in the State.
“It was not for nothing that some of his party members were not happy and openly disagreed with the way the national body of the APC imposed his candidature on them. The State is presently groaning under a leadership that has no place in moral justice.” Mr. Ogunmola said.
In his reaction, the National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Mr. Solomon Soyebi, confirmed that Governor Bello, registered twice as a voter in Nigeria which is illegal.
Mr. Soyebi disclosed that Governor Bello first registered on January 20, 2011 in Wuse Zone-4, Abuja and then registered for a second time on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at the Government House in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State.
While dissociating itself from the governor’s action described as double registration and registering outside INEC designated centre, the commission however made it clear that it did not authorise any of its staff to re-register the governor and outside a designated voter registration centre.
The commission after promising to take disciplinary action against its official involved in the double registration, said it is handicapped in prosecuting Governor Bello as he is protected by law while in office.
INEC said it has cancelled the governor’s second registration.
Reacting, spokesman to governor Yahaya Bello, Mr. Kingsley Fanwo, affirmed that his boss registered twice, but insisted that it was not unconstitutional and criminal, saying the governor had to register again in Kogi, because nothing had come of efforts to get INEC to transfer his voter’s card from Abuja to Kogi.
“From the first day, the Governor didn’t say he registered in Kogi State. It even came to the fore at the tribunals. He registered in Abuja. He never voted in Kogi State. Nothing in the law makes it mandatory for you to vote for yourself before you can win a political position. We have had people who won elections from detention in the past.
“They wouldn’t have voted for themselves from detention. The Governor’s efforts to transfer the card from Abuja to Kogi State has not been successful, hence the need to seize this golden opportunity to get registered in Kogi State. He needed to demonstrate that to the whole world to woo others to go and register.
