INEC Says SERAP’s Claims Are Not True

The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, wants everyone to know that what SERAP (which stands for Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project) said is not true. SERAP accused INEC’s boss, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, of not following a court order about arresting people who broke election rules.

A big person in INEC, named Sam Olumekun, who takes care of telling people about what INEC does, explained this in a note he shared on Wednesday in Abuja.

Sam Olumekun said that INEC heard about some news stories that SERAP blamed INEC for not arresting people who did bad things during the 2023 voting time in Nigeria.

A newspaper reminded everyone that SERAP had pointed fingers at INEC for ignoring some Governors and Deputy Governors who SERAP thinks broke voting rules but didn’t get in trouble.

SERAP also said that INEC should have hired outside lawyers to catch and punish other naughty things like buying votes during the elections. But INEC says that what SERAP is saying doesn’t match what everyone can see and know.

INEC explained back that Governors and Deputy Governors have special rules protecting them, which means they can’t just be taken to court. INEC believes SERAP should know about these special rules.

INEC also said that there are no real complaints that would make them start any court cases against these Governors or Deputy Governors.

“Also,” INEC said, “if SERAP had looked carefully, it would have seen that, after the 2023 voting, INEC said it got 215 reports from the Police who caught some people not following election rules all around Nigeria.”

Those reports showed that during the Presidential and National Assembly votes, 52 reports were made about 238 people not following the rules, and during State elections, there were 163 reports with 536 people getting accused of being naughty.

“It’s important,” INEC added, “to tell people that we are serious about catching people who break voting rules. This doesn’t only include people outside INEC. Even some people who work at INEC, including a big boss who worked as a Resident Electoral Commissioner, are being taken to court for breaking rules,” INEC explained further.