Rivers: APC guber candidate, Cole, slams INEC’s ‘level of impunity’ over non-release of election materials

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, has pilloried the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over its defiance of the law regarding documents needed to file its case at the tribunal.

Tonye Cole made this disclosure on Thursday, during an interview on AriseTV, monitored by Ripples Nigeria.

The APC candidate, during a protest, in March 2023, at the state head office of INEC in Port Harcourt, expressed concern that the electoral umpire had allegedly refused to release the documents used for the last elections for them to pursue their case at the tribunal.

According to Cole, the demand became necessary following the time frame stipulated for legal actions as regards the election.

He accused INEC of violating the court order that directed APC to inspect materials used for the conduct of the election.

Read Also: Tonye Cole claims PDP thugs attacked him at INEC Office

Consequently, the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State approached a court of competent jurisdiction to compel INEC to produce Certified True Copies of documents used in the last governorship election at the tribunal.

Speaking on the situation during the interview on AriseTV, Cole noted that the action of the commission was stalling his party’s preparations to seek redress at the election tribunal.

He also said the failure of INEC to release the Certified True Copies of the election results affected the constitutional 21-day window to file a petition at the tribunal.

Cole said, “There is an impunity level we saw in Rivers State during the governorship elections. We were prevented from collecting documents which were rightfully ours; these documents were needed to file our case at the tribunal.

“The PDP barricaded the INEC office in order to deny the APC access to these documents. We got a court order compelling INEC to release these documents but INEC is yet to comply. This level of impunity by INEC must not be allowed to stand.”

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