{"id":100369,"date":"2023-11-10T10:07:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T09:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu"},"modified":"2023-11-10T13:29:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T12:29:36","slug":"kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu","title":{"rendered":"Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa: We\u2019re not political party, have no preferred candidate \u2013 INEC Chairman Yakubu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission has no preferred candidate in Saturday\u2019s governorship election in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States.<\/p>\n

Yakubu said INEC is not a political party; hence has no candidate in Saturday\u2019s governorship election in the three states.<\/p>\n

In a message on Friday, the INEC Chairman cautioned staff members of the commission against interfering in Saturday\u2019s election, stressing that electorates should be allowed to decide their governors.<\/p>\n

Yakubu also said 5,169,692 Nigerians who collected their permanent voters\u2019 cards (PVCs) are expected to vote.<\/p>\n

He added that this is the first time in the country\u2019s history that these elections are held on the same day and across three geo-political zones of the country.<\/p>\n

He called on INEC officials, regular and ad-hoc, to demonstrate the highest level of patriotism and professionalism during the elections.<\/p>\n

According to Yakubu: \u201cAs I said repeatedly, not least during my recent readiness assessment visits to the three States, INEC is not a political party and we have no candidate in the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur responsibility is to safeguard the process and ensure a level playing field for all political parties and candidates. The choice of who becomes the Governor of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States is entirely in the hands of voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolling Unit results will be uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. All election duty officials have been trained.<\/p>\n

\u201cArrangements have been made for land and maritime transportation to enable us commence voting on schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn spite of the extremely difficult terrain and physical infrastructure in some locations, we are determined to ensure that our officials are there waiting for voters rather than the voters waiting for our arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission has no preferred candidate in Saturday\u2019s governorship election in Bayelsa, Kogi, and Imo States. Yakubu said INEC is not a political party; hence has no candidate in Saturday\u2019s governorship election in the three states. In a message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":100367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1570,2140,773,1018,396,254,433],"class_list":["post-100369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-bayelsa","tag-imo","tag-kogi","tag-nigeria","tag-yakubu"],"yoast_head":"\nKogi, Imo, Bayelsa: We\u2019re not political party, have no preferred candidate \u2013 INEC Chairman Yakubu - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission has no pref ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa: We\u2019re not political party, have no preferred candidate \u2013 INEC Chairman Yakubu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has said the commission has no pref ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-10T09:07:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-10T12:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699602930.567551.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1107\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"723\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa: We\u2019re not political party, have no preferred candidate \u2013 INEC Chairman Yakubu\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-10T09:07:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-10T12:29:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\"},\"wordCount\":315,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699602930.567551.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Bayelsa\",\"Imo\",\"Kogi\",\"Nigeria\",\"yakubu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/kogi-imo-bayelsa-were-not-political-party-have-no-preferred-candidate-inec-chairman-yakubu\",\"name\":\"Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa: We\u2019re not political party, have no preferred candidate \u2013 INEC Chairman Yakubu - 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