INEC confirms Kogi Governor Bello illegally did double registration for voter's card

- The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirmed that Governor Yahaya Bello actually committed an electoral crime

- The electoral umpire said it was going ahead with prosecuting the staff who got the governor registered for a second time

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially confirmed that Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state registered twice for permanent voter’s card.

The electoral law makes it a big offence to engage in double registration for which the governor is now been accused by INEC.

According to INEC, Governor Bello illegally registered for voter’s card in Abuja and Kogi.

However, INEC said it was handicapped in taking action against the governor because he is covered by immunity, according to a report by Premium Times.

INEC said Governor Bello registered twice for voter's card

INEC’s national commissioner and chairman in charge of voter education committee, Solomon Soyebi, said: “The governor’s double registration and doing so outside INEC’s designated centres are both illegal.”

INEC said it did not order any staff or citizen to re-register him or any citizen or to do so outside our designated CVR centres.

Soyebi confirmed that Bello was first registered at Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, on January 30, 2011, but got himself registered again on May 23 during the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise in his office in Lokoja, Kogi state.

Though the governor cannot be prosecuted now, INEC said it is 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.

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“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,” Soyebi said.

The spokesperson for the governor, Kingsley Fanwo, had reportedly said Bello did double registation because nothing had come of efforts to get INEC to transfer his voter’s card from Abuja to Kogi.