Citing widespread disruption of last Saturday’s elections in Rivers State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday announced the suspension of the process in the state.
This is as staff of the commission explained they sneaked out of the state headquarters of the commission because of the siege laid to the office by military men.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has also called for the arrest of some police and army officers for the alleged roles they played in the disruption of the electoral process of the state which led to the death of several people.
In a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye, the commission said it determined that there was widespread disruption of the of elections in the state ladt Saturday.
The statement stated: “These initial reports suggest that violence occurred in a substantial number of polling units and collation centres, staff have been taken hostage and materials including result sheets have either seized or destroyed by unauthorised persons. In addition, safety of our staff appears to be in jeopardy all over the state and the commission is concerned about the credibility of the process.
“Consequently at a meeting held today, March 10, 2019, the commission has decided to suspend all electoral processes in the state until further notice.”
The commission said its decision is in line with Section 26 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and Clause 47 € of the Regulations and Guidelines of the Commission.
It also said: “the Commission has also established a fact-finding committee to assess the situation and report back within 48 hours.”
Meanwhile, the commission has explained that its staff at the Rivers State headquarters fled the office because of a siege to the office by military men.
Senior officers of the commission surreptitiously left the office at about noon when the military took over security, rendering the police mere bye standers.
Addressing journalists before leaving the state headquarters yesterday, Enabor said: "In fact, throughout the elections we had many reports of insecurity, molestation, harassment and assault on our staff and ad hoc staff and the disruption of the electoral process throughout the state; in all the local government areas with the consequence that yesterday evening we were unable to see the results.
"Now, it is about 1:00pm, the office is under siege by men in military uniform, Army uniform and uniform of the Air Force and the Police who have taken over the INEC office.
"They are stopping and screening people and clearing results before they enter the office to the extent that up till now, no collation had been done. So, that is the situation now."
On the identity of the men, he said, "We don't understand where the people are deployed from. We are not accusing the Nigerian Army or Air force but what we say is that the people in the office right now are wearing the uniforms of the Army and Air Force.
"So, if they are not from them, we are therefore calling on them to come and rectify the situation and allow our officers to enter with their results without molestation, intimidation and harassment."
Reacting to events in the election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has called for the arrest of the arrest and prosecution of the Commander of the Federal
Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) in Rivers State, Mr. Akin Fakorede, over what it described as “the unfortunate shooting of a lecturer with the Kenule Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic (Kenpoly), Dr. Ferry Gberegbe, who is the outgoing Chairman of Kenpoly
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).
A stamen issued by Jerry Needam, media aide to the state PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, also said Marvin Lezor Kpea-ue, Raymond Ledogo and several others at the
INEC Collation Centre in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area of the State were shot yesterday.
No comments:
Post a Comment