Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, has once again exonerated itself and its staff from the alleged underage voting in Kano State.
INEC said there were no underage voters on the register it handed over to the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission to undertake the local government elections that took place last Saturday.
This comes exactly three years after INEC had accused the Kano electoral body of allowing underage persons to vote in 2018.
Speaking on Tuesday, the Director, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC, Nick Dazang, that the commission does not register underage voters.
Dazang explained that indeed INEC handed over its voter register to Kano State for the conduct of the local government election but added that INEC doesn’t register Nigerians below the age of 18.
The INEC director further stated that INEC conducted elections in Kano State in 2019 without reports of underage voting, adding that this was proof that its register could not have been used in the local government elections in Kano.