The Independent National Electoral Commission has been compelled to reject the results of Saturday’s rerun election in the areas that experienced violence and disruption. INEC stated that the isolated incidents affected the exercise in only four of the 28 constituencies where elections were held.
INEC said it was moved to reject the results of the rerun election in the area due to the fact that its officials were abducted and forced to compromise the processes.
Mr. Festus Okoye, who is the INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee released a statement which read, “INEC met on January 27, 2020 and reviewed the conduct of the January 25, 2020 court-ordered rerun elections in 28 constituencies in 11 states of the federation”.
Mr Okoye said that, “INEC took the decision on Tuesday after reviewing Saturday’s re-run election in 28 Constituencies, in 11 states”. and also noted that INEC observed a marked improvement in compliance with its processes and procedures during the election.
“Regrettably, deviant behaviour by a few persons determined to subvert the people’s will was noticed in a few areas in the course of the elections. These isolated incidents minimally affected the peaceful and orderly exercise in only four of the 28 constituencies where elections were conducted.
“However, consistent with the commission’s resolve to sanction bad electoral behaviour, the commission took the following steps to protect the process:
“In Akwa-Ibom State, where the officials of the commission were abducted and diverted to an undesignated location and forced to compromise the elections in the Essien Udim LGA, all the polling units involved were identified and their results discountenanced.
