By Aaron Ossai, Abuja

Briefing newsmen in Abuja, the INEC boss said his duty to Nigerians was to conduct free and fair elections come 2007 following strictly the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as represented in the Electoral Law.

的 am not working for anybody or organization, I am strictly following the provisions of the nation's rule book in exercising my duties as the Chairman of the Commission and anybody who is thinking of manipulating me outside the constitution should have a rethink because there would be no other way to win elections than to persuade the electorate to vote・ he emphasized.

On the preparations for the elections, Iwu said a lot of grounds had been covered especially in the area of electronic voting system but cautioned that delay in the release of funds to the commission to carry out the exercise as arranged may drastically affect the preparations.

He said the commission had completed the computerization of the voter register adding that the pilot revalidation of the voter register which held in Abuja early this month provided the commission an opportunity to appraise the working of the new system. 展hat we have is a system that favours no one, but brooks no crookedness. That is the hallmark of our policy as we prepare for the conduct of a free, fair and credible election in 2007 even though there seems to have been a mind set in some people which is intolerant of the word electronic as in the word Electronic Voting System, he said.

He said INEC canvassed for the use of electronic voting system because according to him the system of counting ballots, had failed Nigerians woefully in establishing the intent of the voter and to the voter counter.

的NEC is committed to putting the past right and ensuring that whoever emerges in an election is the person the electorate want. There is nothing in the electronic voters register or in the authentication of voters or in instant transmission of election result at polling units that cannot be acceptable to any honest citizen・ he maintained.

He said the commission had also established the Electoral Institute, which according to him is aimed at training of its administrative staff to ensure solid professional training of personnel in election administration and conduct as against the use of ad hoc staff in previous elections.