The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has made it clear that it will prosecute Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State of double registration at an appropriate time.
“The allegation of double registration has not been swept under the carpet; we cannot prosecute Bello now because he enjoys immunity as a sitting governor.
“He has committed an offence and we shall prosecute him when he is out office.”
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kogi state, Professor James Apam, who made the clarifications today, Thursday in Lokoja, said that the recent issuance of a temporary voter’s card to the governor did not mean that the issue of double registration had been swept under the carpet.
INEC had, on February 26, issued a temporary voter’s card to the governor after applying for the transfer of his permanent card from Abuja to Okene.
INEC had last year, declared the second registration done by Governor Yahaya Bello, on May 23 at the Government House, Lokoja as illegal and contrary to the Electoral Act.
The electoral body, through one of its Federal Commissioners, Emmanuel Shoyebi, said that the registration, which was done outside the designated registration centre, also amounted to double registration which is a criminal offence.
Shoyebi said that Governor Yahaya Bello did his first registration at Wuse Zone 11 in Abuja, on Jan. 30, 2011.
For their involvement in the double registration saga, a senior official of INEC was compulsorily retired from service while two others were summarily dismissed last month.
Apam, however, explained that a temporary voter’s card was issued to the governor based on legal advice, saying that the governor would surely face the consequences of his crime at the appropriate time.
He said that INEC’s legal advisers had advised the electoral body not to deny Bello his right to vote and be voted for since he could not be tried at the moment. [myad]
