N’assembly re-invites INEC chairman to clarify 2019 elections budget

The National Assembly joint committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has again invited Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the commission, to give further clarifications on the 2019 general election budget.

Suleiman Nazif, chairman of the senate committee on INEC, made this known to journalists after the joint committee meeting.

He said Yakubu was expected to be at the meeting by 11am on Friday.

Nazif said the joint committee, having met to harmonise their reports, following Yakubu’s visit to both chambers on Wednesday, came to a conclusion that more clarifications needed to be made on the budget.

“Yesterday (Wednesday), we invited the chairman of INEC, who addressed the senate and house of representatives and we met today to harmonise what transpired yesterday between both chambers,” he said.

“The meeting was convened consequent upon the letter of President Muhammadu Buhari, requesting for supplementary and virement for the 2019 general election.

“We have done what we needed to do and we have realised there are differences.

“In view of that, we decided to invite the chairman of INEC for further clarifications tomorrow at 11am and from there we will issue a statement to inform Nigerians of our position.”

He assured Nigerians that the joint committee would endeavour to make sure that the elections did not suffer any setback as a result of the president’s request to the national assembly.

He said: “We want to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that the committee is committed to ensuring effective, credible, free and fair elections in 2019.”

The senate committee on Monday queried the commission for presenting a budgetary proposal that was at variance with the one presented by the president for the polls.

President Buhari in July transmitted the budget of the 2019 elections to the national assembly.

The president gave the breakdown as N189 billion for INEC and N52 billion for the police, Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies.