The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahood Yakubu, said this in Abuja on Wednesday when some Civil Society Organisations led by popular artiste, Charles Oputa, aka Charly Boy, visited the headquarters of the commission.
Yakubu said there were reports of vote-buying in Anambra, Edo and the recently concluded governorship election in Ekiti State.
The INEC boss said vote-buying was on the rise because the snatching of ballot boxes and other violent forms of rigging had become almost impossible.
He said the Electoral Act recommends an open secret ballot system which allows voters to cast their ballots publicly.
Yakubu, however, said the commission was exploring the possibility of changing the process of voting without breaking the law.
The INEC boss said, “First, we must look into the administration of our polling unit, particularly the place where we place the voting cubicle where the citizens vote and the place where we keep the ballot box. Remember the law says it is an open secret system.
“You vote in the cubicle but have to drop the ballot in the open. So, we learnt from experience from previous elections like Edo, Anambra but it wasn’t as pronounced in Ondo. However, we had complaints in Ekiti. As we move to other elections, we will see what we can do in that respect.”
Yakubu defended the decision of INEC to stop voter registration on August 17. He said nearly eight million Permanent Voter Cards had remained uncollected since 2015 while about 11 million new persons had been registered.
The INEC boss said stopping the registration would give the commission time to focus on the distribution of PVCs.
