From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The recent delineation and re-delineation of electoral wards by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Warri, Delta State, has sparked outage.
This is because a Warri-based lawyer and the Egogo of Warri Kingdom, Chief Robinson Ariyo, has described the action as a ‘fraud’.
Ariyo, in a statement on Sunday, claimed that a court affidavit in public space and deposed to by a principal officer of INEC, Onyema Chika before a Federal High Court in Benin outlined the constitutional role of INEC as far as delineation was concerned.
According to paragraph 12 and 13, he cited Onyema Chika whom he claimed deposed under oath, “That I know as a fact that the 1st Defendant does not conduct election using Electoral wards.”
Ariyo said: “In what amounts to a confession, Mr. Onyema Chika, a Principal Executive Officer of INEC has in an affidavit deposed before the Commissioner for Oaths, Federal High Court Benin that INEC does not have the power to delineate and re-delineate Electoral Wards by virtue of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”
Ariyo called on President Bola Tinubu to institute a panel of enquiry into the activities of INEC leading to the proposed delineation of wards in Warri Federal Constituency on the 4th day of April, 2025.
“The accounts of the Chairman of INEC, the Chairman of the delineation Committee, Professor Rhoda Gumus and all the top INEC officials that are connected with the exercise including the head of the legal department T.M Inuwa, SAN should be investigated,” he demanded.