Go to the tribunal, INEC’ll support you, A’Ibom REC tells aggrieved candidates

The Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mr Mike Igini, has assured candidates that were aggrieved over the outcome of the 2019 general elections of the support of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if they decided to approach the Election Petitions Tribunal.

Igini, who encouraged the aggrieved candidates to approach the tribunals because they have the right under section 133 of the Electoral Act, assured them of the cooperation of INEC, adding that the electoral body would not shy away from giving account of how it made returns when called upon to do so.

The Akwa Ibom REC stated this in Uyo on Saturday during the presentation of certificates of return to Governor Udom Emmanuel and 25 of the 26 members of the state House of Assembly.

Igini said: “While you are being congratulated, those who are dissatisfied with the return would head for the election tribunal. They have the right to do so in accordance with the provision of Section 133 of the Act.

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“May l assure both petitioners and respondents of our cooperation in availing all parties with relevant certified true copies of documents required to pursue your matters in the tribunal.

“No election material used in the just concluded elections was destroyed as it has been alleged mischievously. No institution or electoral body with a veneer of integrity would shy away from giving account of how it made returns when called upon to do so.”

Igini, who had been widely criticized by leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state, also insisted that INEC worked hard to bring meaning and purpose to the ballot system in Akwa Ibom State, adding that the 2019 elections in the state were a paradigm shift.

“No more pre-writing of election results, incident of ballot box snatching and stuffing of thumb-printed ballot papers and the same announced are now things of the past. The 2019 elections in Akwa Ibom marked a paradigm shift. We strove to do what is right, to put INEC at the service of the electorate as the final determinant of leadership emergence in a democracy,” he said.

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