Tag: Inec

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the cancellation of rerun elections in four local government areas.

The affected councils are: Khana, Gokana, Andoni and Bonny.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Aniedi Ikoiwak, announced the cancellation in a briefing yesterday’s afternoon in Port Harcourt.

He said the cancellation followed attacks of INEC officials at the affected councils by party members who alleged electoral materials sent to them were fake.

“I am not aware of any fake materials sent to any LGA. All the electoral materials for the elections were distributed in the presence of political party representatives; everything sent out from here were genuine materials,” Ikoiwak said.

He said a new date for elections in the four affected LGAs would later be announced.

State constituencies where elections did not hold were Abua/Odual, Ahoada West, Etche One, Khana One, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Ogu/Bolo, Okrika, Oyigbo, Port Harcourt One and Three.

Ahoada West/Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni federal constituency was also not affected by the rerun.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who is a former Rivers Governor, maintained that with free and fair elections, the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would emerge victorious.

Governor Nyesom Wike however, accused INEC of not being prepared for the rerun.

He claimed that that the challenges that greeted the elections would have been avoided if the commission had prepared so well.

He noted that some parts of the state did not have result sheets, which he said could lead to violence, if the electorate suspected foul play.

Wike, who spoke with reporters after voting at Ward 9, Unit 7 in Obio/Akpor LGA of the state, said: “It is obvious that INEC is not prepared for the rerun elections. INEC refused to tell members of the public its challenges.”

The Rivers governor stressed that there were cases of snatching of election materials in Ubima (Amaechi’s hometown in Ikwerre LGA) and Omagwa (also in Ikwerre LGA), saying it was unfortunate  that the challenges were experienced, in spite of the time INEC  had to prepare.

Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, however, lauded the security agencies for maintaining law and order in the state.

The Rivers chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through its Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, alleged that soldiers beat up the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Kenneth Kobani, an Ogoni.

It claimed that the Rivers Commissioner for Environment, Prof. Roseline Konya, was also beaten by soldiers to a state of coma in Ogoni while the Special Adviser to Rivers Governor on Special Projects, Cyril Dum Wite and over 2000 PDP members across the state were equally beaten, arrested and detained by soldiers.

The party alleged that all PDP agents at INEC offices in Khana, Tai and Gokana LGAs were also beaten up and driven away.

When contacted, the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations of the 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt,  Capt. Eli Lazarus, said he was not aware of the allegations levelled against the soldiers by the PDP, but promised to find out.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has dismissed allegations that fake result sheets were in circulation in Akuku-Toru, Tai and Bonny local government areas for the rerun elections in Rivers State.

Rivers State Government had in a statement yesterday alleged there were reports of widespread distribution of fake result sheets to Khana, Bony, Andoni and other local government areas.

“We have seen so far a completely messy logistical nightmare, as voters seem unable to differentiate between fake and real INEC documents,” Commissioner for Information and Communication, Austin Tam-George, said in the statement.

But, INEC shortly after, said: “The allegations are untrue and they should be discountenanced.”

The electoral commission advised voters to go out and exercise their franchise peacefully.

The Rivers Government said the people would only accept the outcome of the election if the process is free, fair and credible.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Rivers State, Aniedi Ikoiwak, has confirmed the replacement of missing result sheets meant for some wards in the state.

Ikoiwak made the confirmation in a television interview while receiving the sensitive materials from the Central Bank at the INEC office on Thursday.

The delivery and distribution of the materials were reportedly done in the presence of party agents, particularly those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Ikoiwak said the missing result sheets might have been wrongly packed with those of other wards and local government areas, saying they had been duly replaced with INEC-endorsed result sheets, which according to him had voided the missing ones even if they were later found.

“Because of the transparency we have employed in the conduct of these elections, INEC made adequate provision for replacement of result sheets should any of such situation arise. So, the shortfalls have been replaced with the result sheets that were signed by INEC to authenticate the replacement sheets.

“I believe that the result sheets may have during packaging mixed with those of other LGAs and wards. What happened is that these materials are printed in millions, you discover that one sheet or two are not there.

“It is not out of place that these missing sheets may have been misplaced into or wrongly packaged into those of other wards of the same LGA or a different LGA all together. And that was the reason INEC, in it wisdom, made provision for the replacement of the sheets.”

Also speaking on the polls, the state INEC Boss reiterated that accreditation of eligible voters and casting of votes would begin by 8 am and end by 2 pm.

He said the card readers had been programmed as such and would shut down the moment it is 2 pm to show the end of accreditation and voting.

According to him, results would be collated and declared at the headquarters of each electoral constituency and district and not at the INEC office in Port Harcourt or Abuja.

The INEC office in Rivers, he said, will only receive the already declared/announced results from the collation officers for dispatch to Abuja.

“One important thing about this election is that no result will be declared in INEC office; all results will be declared in the 37 spots the elections is taking place.

The 22 state House of Assembly elections will be declared at the headquarters of the constituencies. So also is the House of Representatives while the two senatorial elections will be declared in the respective districts,” he said.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu yesterday regretted the conflicting decisions by election tribunals and courts.

 He said this could have negative impact on the commission’s planning and conduct of polls.

Yakubu noted that the conflicting decisions confuse the commission, making it impossible for INEC to determine which judgments to obey.

He spoke yesterday in Abuja at the conference on election tribunals organised for judges and justices,  who decided petitions and appeals from the last general election.

The event was put together by the Court of Appeal

The INEC chairman, who promised to ensure that those compromising the electoral process are sanctioned, said the commission would discourage litigations by conducting free and fair elections.

His words: “While it is appreciated that the courts treat each case on its merits, certain trends point to conflicting judgments on similar cases by different judicial divisions of the Appeal Court. We are made to understand that the courts have a principle of obeying the decisions of superior courts by what lawyers call the doctrine of stare decisis. This has helped the courts to streamline their decisions on the same matter.

“But recent judgments seem to deviate from this time-honoured principle of law. The truth is that there is need for certainty in the rules governing the resolution of electoral disputes. Judicial precedence is of immense importance, without which neither the Judiciary nor INEC will be spared of impunity by political actors.

“For instance, can a disqualified candidate stand in a rerun election? Can the political party that sponsored a candidate disqualified by the court be allowed to field another candidate to contest in a rerun election? What is the meaning of a ‘fresh election,’ following the nullification of a general election?”

“However, contrary to the subsisting judgment of the Supreme Court, there were conflicting decisions by the Appeal Court, arising from the 2015 general election. The Court of Appeal in one division ordered INEC to conduct fresh election ‘in which only duly qualified candidates shall participate.

“In another division, the Court of Appeal, under similar circumstances, nullified the election, disqualified the candidate and allowed the political party to submit the name of another candidate for the rerun election.

“Yet, in another division, the Court of Appeal nullified the election and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election, but is silent about the status of the disqualified candidate, thereby giving room for endless commentary and new rounds of litigation on the eligibility of the disqualified candidate to participate in rerun elections.

“Although we have implemented these judgments on their merits, the conflicting decisions make us sometimes, appear inconsistent in our application of the law, thereby encouraging some disqualified candidates to initiate fresh litigation in the          Federal High Courts,” Yakubu said.

The INEC chairman, who argued that tribunal and appeal tribunals must not always order rerun elections, cited instances where elections were nullified and INEC was ordered to conduct a rerun simply for the sake of conducting elections in a specific polling unit.

Yakubu noted that after expending time and resources for such exercise, the outcome do not always make any material difference to the original result declared by INEC, which made substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.

He said his commission would compile all judgments in relation to the last general election and study them, to find ways of ensuring that elections can be conducted with minimal litigation on their outcome.

He said 680 election cases were filed against INEC after the 2015 general election and 580 were dismissed by the tribunals and the Court of Appeal.

Yakubu said the commission had no judicial powers over the outcome of the elections it conducted, adding that each time an Appeal Court determined a case, INEC was always ordered to undertake one form of consequential action.

President of The Court of Appeal Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa noted that 749 appeals emanated from decisions of election tribunals.

She praised justices of the Court of Appeal for ensuring that appeals were disposed of within the stipulated time.

She said the conference was an opportunity for judicial officers and stakeholders to “reflect on the general conduct of the exercise, identify challenges and map out a way forward”.

The two-day conference, with the theme: “2015 election petition tribunals and appeals: An overview” ends today.