Yobe bye-election, our best so far —Jega

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AS preparations for the 2015 general election hot up, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega,  on Monday, declared that the by-election conducted to fill the vacant seat in the Yobe State House of Assembly  last weekend was the best outing  so far in the anals of the commission, despite the security challenges in the North-East axis of the country.

Professor Jega stated this in Abuja, while playing host to members of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), who paid him a courtesy visit to brief him on the association's proposed international seminar on political advertising ahead  the 2015 general election.

He said for over two years now, the commission had been unable to conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seat of the Borno State House of Assembly as required by law, due to the security challenges in the state.

According to him, "the commission is fully prepared for the 2015 general election. We tested this last  weekend in Yobe State where we conducted the bye-election into the state House of Assembly. The turnout was tremendous. By 7 30 a.m, the voters were already at the polling centres for their accreditation. 

"Electoral materials were on ground, the election went well, collation of results was done and results declared."

Professor Jega said based on what happened on Saturday in Yobe State, he was in the position to reassure Nigerians and the international community that the 2015 general election would hold in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states and  in other states of the federation and Abuja under a conducive atmosphere, despite the security challenges in the country.

He, however, lamented that politicians in the country had not been using professional advertising practitioners in preparing their campaigns  materials which made their campaigns to lack civility and non compliance with the rules and laws of the land guiding electoral processes.

Professor Jega assured that the commission would use every opportunity to plead with politicians to use experts in preparing their campaigns materials in order to add value to the 2015 elections.

Earlier, the national president of AAAN, Mrs Bunmi Oke, had said  her group was in the commission to see how they could  partner with it towards adding value to the general election to  make the polls credible and acceptable to all and sundry.

Culled from Tribune
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