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Tag: Inec

  • INEC to punish erring officials

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will punish any official, whose actions caused irregularities in the March 28 elections in Edo State.

    Resident Electoral Commission (REC) Mike Igini,   speaking yesterday, said the erring officials must explain why result sheets were not present at some polling units.

    Igini spoke before meeting with electoral officers and other INEC management workers to review the March 28 polls and strategise for Saturday’s elections.

    “There must be an account why result sheets were not at the polling units. I am compiling areas where result sheets were not accompanied with other materials. When I distributed sensitive and non-sensitive materials, I gave you everything.

    “To say that there was no result sheet is a clear manifest of violation of our procedures, and there must be consequences,” Igini said.

    He warned INEC officials against any breach of procedures on Saturday, saying “the outcome of the election must be decided by the people.

    “The will of the people must not be compromised because this office is under public trust.

    “I don’t have any vote to give to anybody. There are consequences for those who breached our procedures”.

  • ‘Don’t discard Card Readers’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to discard Card Readers on Saturday.

    In a statement by its spokesman, Kunle Oyatomi, the partysaid it would be 10 steps backwards and regrettable if the commission succumbs to such an idea.

    “The Card Readers, despite some hitches in the last election, were responsible for the near elimination of rigging and credibility in the election.

    “INEC should not trade off this in its efforts to sanitise the electoral process.

    “This will damage the esteem INEC has had since the March 28 election and endanger our democracy.”

  • INEC to punish erring officials in Edo

    INEC to punish erring officials in Edo

    The Independent National Electoral Commission is to punish any of its officials whose actions caused irregularities in the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly elections in Edo State.

    Resident Electoral Commission in the state (REC), Barrister Mike Igini, who disclosed this Monday said the erring officials must account why result sheets were not present at some polling units during the elections.

    Igini spoke shortly before meeting with Electoral Officers and other management staff of INEC to review the March 28 polls as well as strategies for this Saturday elections.

    The Edo REC said it was worrisome for result sheets not to be available at polling units when he personally handed out the result sheets to the concerned officials.

    According to him, “There must be an account why result sheets were not at the polling units. I am compiling areas where results sheet were not accompanied with other materials. When I distributed sensitive and none-sensitive materials, I gave everything to all of you.

    “To say that there was no result sheet is a clear manifest violation of our procedures; and there must be consequences today.”

    Barr. Igini warned INEC officials against any breach of procedures in the April 11th State Assembly elections saying “the outcome of the election must be decided by the people.

    “The will of the people must not be compromised because this office will occupy is under public trust.

    “I don’t have any vote to give to anybody. There are consequences for those who breached our procedure.”

  • April 11 elections: INEC insists on Card Readers

    April 11 elections: INEC insists on Card Readers

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reiterated its wish to ensure that card readers are used during the April 11 elections.

    The commission in a statement signed by its Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu, said: “The provision of the Guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 General Elections which outlined what is to be done if a card reader fails and cannot be replaced by the Commission within a specified time frame (i.e. Reschedule the election to the next day) will be enforced.

    “The relaxation of the Guidelines on the 28th March 2015 was with respect to the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on that date.

    “The commission has reviewed the operation of the Card Reader in the 28th March Elections, identified the challenges and has taken adequate measures to address them.”

  • Rivers youths bust ‘INEC officials’ thumprinting ballot papers

    Rivers youths bust ‘INEC officials’ thumprinting ballot papers

    A group of youths in Rivers State at the weekend found some people believed to be officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) thumb printing ballot papers in Khana, a community in Ogoniland.

    The officials are believed to be carrying out the act to justify the results posted for the National Assembly elections.

    A source said: “One of the officials disclosed that the action was arrived at to justify the results tendered and provide evidence in preparation for tribunal.”

    The youths later handed over the materials seized from the officials to Senator Magnus Abe, who was the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rivers South-East Senatorial candidate.

    Abe, at a news conference yesterday which was also attended by the Director-General of the Greater Tomorrow Campaign Organisation, Victor Giadom, urged the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) unit of the police to investigate and prosecute the INEC officials and policemen involved in the act.

    Abe said: “As you can see before me are INEC ballot papers from Khana. At about 12noon (Thursday), youths stumbled on some INEC officials in their office in Bori, where they brought in presiding officers and supervisors to thumbprint ballot papers and doctored results all in favour of PDP.

    “I called the Area Commander, Bori and the DPO who told me the INEC officials were in Bori to collect their stipends on the last elections; I called CP Karma, who asked me to report the matter to the CID; I decide to inform the Nigerian public before proceeding to the police CID.”

    Abe urged INEC chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega to redeploy the Rivers State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Gesila Khan, before next Saturday’s elections “for showing executive recklessness in collaboration with PDP and the police”.

    He also called for the cancellation of the “concocted elections, because the votes counted in favour of the PDP were not cast by Rivers people”.

  • Fire guts INEC’s office

    Fire guts INEC’s office

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office at Nworie-Ubi in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State has been gutted by fire.

    The building, surrounded by bush at the council headquarters, was set ablaze by yet-to-be identified people on Saturday, resulting in the loss of vital documents.

    A witness said the fire started about 1am, adding that efforts by fire fighters to put it out failed, as the building was in flames before their arrival.

    Police Commissioner Austin Evbakhavbokun confirmed the inferno.

    He said the incident occurred when a generator exploded, igniting the jerry cans of fuel stored in the building.

    The police boss said the generator operator has been arrested.

    The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Gabriel Adah, could not be reached for comments.

  • Prepare more for April 11 elections, NHRC advises INEC

    Prepare more for April 11 elections, NHRC advises INEC

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address some of the challenges identified during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the commission, gave the advice on Sunday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He said the advice became imperative in view of the forthcoming Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on April 11.

    Odinkalu, nonetheless, commended INEC for the success recorded in the Presidential and National Assembly elections conducted on March 28.

    “We are not asking for perfection, we are asking for improvement and Prof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of INEC, has shown that improvement.

    “INEC should, however, learn from the mistakes of the Presidential and National Assembly elections and perfect its art in subsequent elections,’’ he said.

    The chairman also urged the electorate to replicate conducts that encouraged peaceful atmosphere during the last elections in the April 11 elections.

    Odinkalu commended President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat and congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

  • ‘How Kano INEC Chief, wife, daughters died in fire incident’

    ‘How Kano INEC Chief, wife, daughters died in fire incident’

    The Police in Kano has ruled out sabotage in the death of Kano Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Alhaji Munkaila Abdullahi who died along with his wife and daughters in a fire incident on Thursday.

    Briefing reporters in his office, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris said preliminary investigation confirmed that Abdullahi and members of his family died out of suffocation arising from a fire, suspected to have emanated from electrical fault.

    Idris dismissed insinuations that the INEC boss must have been assassinated, saying there was no trace of sabotage at the scene of the incident.

    Reporters were escorted to the scene of the incident to verify the circumstances of the death.

    According to Idris, “today (Friday) at about 4:30 a.m., the police men on guard duty at the official residence of the Resident Electoral Commissioner Kano state, Alhaji Munkaila Abdullahi located at No. 2 Sir Kashim Ibrahim Road, Nassarawa GRA, Kano, observed a fire emanating from split A/C in the sitting room.

    “They make several attempt to get in touch with him including banging the doors and breaking some of the toilets windows but he was not responding. The police men and local guards broke the door leading to the sitting room, and discovered the sitting room was engulfed by fire and smoke.

    “They then went to the side of the door leading to the masters bedroom, broke the door and entered; they were not inside the bed room and the Police then went to the bathroom, inside the master bedroom and found the REC, his wife and his two daughters unconscious on the floor.

    “They quickly removed them to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital where the Doctor confirmed them dead. The Doctor confirmed the family died from inhalation of hot and black smoke.

    “Meanwhile, the detectives attached to SCID sealed the scene and together with the fire service men have commenced thorough investigation into the fire incident,” CP Idris stated.

     

  • Polls: INEC begins movement of non-sensitive materials

    Polls: INEC begins movement of non-sensitive materials

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kano has begun the movement of non-sensitive materials to local governments, ahead of next weekend’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    The Administrative Secretary of the electoral body in Kano, Abdulrazak Tukur, told reporters at the INEC office yesterday that the commission had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Association of Road Transport Workers (NARTW) to facilitate the movement of non-sensitive materials to local governments.

    He said the signing of the MoU was informed by the challenges encountered by INEC, arising from inadequate number of vehicles to transport non-sensitive materials.

    “I can assure you that we have overcome that challenge. We are planning it in such a way that before the eve of the election, the non-sensitive materials must have reached their destinations.”

    According to Tukur, INEC has resolved the hiccups experienced with the card reader.

    His words: “We are not going to experience such problem again. It was discovered that the lamination on the screen of the card reader was not removed. But now, it has been removed and the machine is picking finger prints.”

    The INEC chief said the commission was recruiting technicians as ad-hoc workers “so that they will be on standby to work on any machine that breaks down or malfunctions,” adding that INEC had begun the payment of ad hoc workers through e-payment.

    Tukur on behalf of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Abdullahi Minkaila, hailed the role played by security agencies in Kano to ensure peaceful and hitch-free elections last weekend.

    He solicited the support of the people in next weekend’s elections.

  • APC, APGA, others want Imo REC redeployed

    APC, APGA, others want Imo REC redeployed

    Major stakeholders in Imo State, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Chidi Ibe, have called for the immediate redeployment of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), George Ada, for allegedly conniving with security agents to compromise the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Ibe who recounted how he was manhandled by soldiers at the alleged instance of the Minister of State for Education, Professor Viola Onwuliri, accused the REC of compromising the process by handing over sensitive electoral materials to PDP candidates.

    According to the Commissioner, the purported results released by the Commission do not represent the figures obtained by the various party agents in the state.

    “We urgently demand the redeployment of the state REC and the overhaul of the entire INEC officials and adhoc staff in the state before the governorship election to forestall a repeat of the sham that happened during Presidential and National Assembly election.

    “We saw how security agents and INEC staff assisted the PDP to compromise the process and we will resist any attempt to rig the governorship election by any person or group of persons”.

    Also rejecting the results of the National Assembly elections in the state, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the APC Senatorial candidate for Imo North (Okigwe senatorial zone), Hon.Benjamin Uwajumogu, described the election as a “complete sham”.

    The Speaker held that elections did not hold in the majority of the Local Government Areas, including Ehime Mbano, Isiala Mbano, and Okigwe Council Areas but results were released in the Council Areas by INEC in favour of the PDP.

    Calling for the cancelation of the entire election, Uwajumogu alleged that “at Ehime Mbano LGA for instance, ballot papers and other election materials meant for Imo West (Owerri senatorial zone) were brought to Okigwe zone. On noticing the situation INEC quickly withdrew the ballot papers and this delayed the exercise.

    “At about 7 pm the Electoral Officer announced that it was already late and the election was shifted to the following day and we all agreed to hold the election the following morning but the moment we left the Electoral Officer and the PDP candidate wrote the results of the election and took it to INEC and it was announced as the result from the zone”.

    According to him, “the results that emanated in the purported Senatorial election in Imo North especially in the polling units of Ehime Mbano, Isiala Mbano, Onuimo, Okigwe and Ihitte/Uboma did not reflect the actual results with the party agents.

    “I reject the entire results being circulated to have emanated from the said March 28th 2015 Senatorial election in the affected LGAs in Imo North. And we will not accept the result until a fresh election is conducted”.

    In a similar vein, the APGA state Chairman, Barrister Peter Ezeobi, also called for the cancellation of the National Assembly elections alleging that the result announced did not correspond with the votes casted.

    Addressing journalists, Ezeobi pointed out that election never took place in some wards in Orlu Local zone such as Isu, Oguta, Ohaji/Egbema, agwa, Asa Obirie and Obiti where he alleged that ballot boxes were snatched by some PDP thugs.

    Ezeobi while calling for a fresh election to be conducted in the three senatorial zones in the state urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to improve on the performance of the card readers and check the high incidence of thuggery, violence and ballot snatching that marred the National Assembly elections.