INEC rejects poll results in Akwa Ibom rerun, gives reasons

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been forced to reject the results of Saturday’s rerun election in Essien Udim Local Government Area (LGA) of Akwa-Ibom.

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.

This was revealed in a statement issued by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Okoye said that INEC took the decision on Tuesday after reviewing Saturday’s re-run election in 28 Constituencies, in 11 states but however said that INEC noted a marked improvement in compliance with its processes and procedures during the election,

READ ALSO: Nigeria must amend electoral laws to deepen democracy- Secondus

“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 electoral bad behaviour, INEC took the following steps to protect the process:

“In Akwa-Ibom State, where the officials of INEC were abducted and diverted to an undesignated location and forced to compromise the elections in Essien Udim LGA, all the polling units involved were identified and their results discountenanced,” he said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now