The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, on Wednesday in Abuja, admitted the presence of corrupt officials and employees within the commission, who aided rigging and other forms of electoral irregularities.
He was reacting to various criticisms by the chairmen of some political parties and stakeholders during the unveiling/public presentation of strategic programme of action of INEC, covering 2012 to 2016.
According to him, many the INEC employees, who compromised standards, had been either prosecuted or dismissed from duty.
Jega however said the exercise was done without the usual media hype.
He said, "INEC officials are not immune to prosecution. In fact, since we came here, as a commission, we have prosecuted INEC officials; probably it was not well advertised but prosecuted INEC officials who have been clearly found guilty of breaching established laws, rules and regulations have also quietly been shown the way out.
"There were many people that were indicted, who were not faithful and found to be doing criminal activities, which clearly were incompatible with the objectives and responsibility they were supposed to bring to this job. We have retired people. We have dismissed people and asked people to withdraw their services. We have done a lot quietly and it is not something that really should have been advertised in our view.
"We made it very clear as a Commission when we came here and I think in one of the interactive sessions we had with the staff of INEC, we made it clear that we are drawing the line. We said we were not looking for fault. We will not do anything wrong, or ask anybody to do anything wrong and if anybody should do anything wrong, he will have himself or herself to blame. And that has been our guiding principle. It has helped tremendously.
"No doubt, I must share with you that my own assessment of what has happened is that in INEC previously, certainly there were a few bad eggs, who had done things and things they had done had more or less damaged the image of the entire members of the Commission.
"It is really a terrible thing that has happened. And it is very, very clear that substantial majority staff of INEC are honest people doing honest job under very difficult circumstances. All they required was motivation and encouragement and inspiration from the conducts of those who are placed in positions of responsibility."
The Punch