Gov Bello broke the law, registered twice, but we can’t prosecute him, INEC laments

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said that it was not going to take any action against Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello for registering twice for permanent voters’ card because of the immunity he enjoys as governor.

The commission, which officially confirmed that the governor violated the federal electoral law by “illegally” registering for voters’ card in Abuja and Kogi, said its hands are tied because he is constitutionally protected from prosecution while in office.

Photographs had shown Bello being registered by INEC officials in his office in Lokoja, Kogi State capital, while he had earlier done same in Abuja.

Responding to the development, INEC’s national commissioner and chairman voter education committee, Solomon Soyebi said, “The Governor’s double registration and doing so outside INEC’s designated centres are both illegal.”

INEC further denied asking any of its staff to “re-register him or any citizen or to do so outside our designated CVR centres”.

According to Soyebi, Bello 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.

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“We are taking disciplinary action against the INEC staff involved, as for the state governor, Section 308(1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) precludes INEC from prosecuting him while in office,” Soyebi said.

He went further to say, “However, INEC wishes to state that it has cancelled his second and illegal registration forthwith because our electoral law and the commission’s guidelines make no exception for anyone to register more than once and outside the designated areas.”

Meanwhile, the governor’s spokesperson, Kingsley Fanwo, said the governor was left with no choice but to re-register again in Kogi because INEC had so far failed to transfer his voter’s card from Abuja to Kogi.

 

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