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Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed April 2 and 5 for the continuation of the collation of governorship election results in Rivers State, revealing that supplementary elections will hold in six states where results were declared inconclusive.
Addressing newsmen at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said that certain activities like engagement with security agencies and other stakeholders, issuance of guidelines on the resumption of collation of results and revalidation of polling agents and observers for collation of results would precede the collation of the results.
The commission equally disclosed that it would obey any court ruling on its refusal to issue a certificate of return to the governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, for forcing the returning officer to declare him the winner of the Imo West senatorial district election.
On resumption of the electoral process in Rivers state, the commission said: “Following the violent disruption of the electoral process in Rivers during the governorship and state Assembly elections on March 9 and 10, 2019, the commission was compelled to suspend the process.
“The commission set up a fact-finding committee that visited Rivers State and submitted its report which revealed that while election could not hold in a few areas, it was successfully concluded in others with the declaration of winners in 21 state constituencies. Collation was ongoing at the time of the suspension of the process. The collation will hold between April 2 and 5, 2019,” the commission announced.
“Certificates of return in respect of governors-elect shall be presented by supervising national commissioners of the respective states between Wednesday and Friday, March 27 and 29, 2019. They will be assisted by resident electoral commissioners and legal officers of the commission.
“The precise date for the presentation in each state shall be made known by the respective resident electoral commissioners after consultation with the supervising national commissioners. For the state Houses of Assembly, the date of presentation of certificates of return to the respective winners will be announced in due course.”
Reacting to the supplementary elections, the commission said: “Supplementary elections will be conducted in 18 states of the federation on March 23, 2019. All observers and the media accredited by the commission to cover the 2019 general elections are free to observe the elections. They will have unimpeded access to the material distribution centres, polling units and collation centres.
“Arising from the meeting held on March 19, 2019, between INEC and security agencies, the latter has given the assurances of adequate security, professional conduct and unimpeded access to all levels of the election and collation centres.
“The commission encourages all registered voters in the areas where elections will be conducted to come out and cast their ballots. We also appeal to all stakeholders for continuous support.”
On the pending case in Bauchi and Adamawa states, the commission noted: “The commission has conducted governorship elections in 29 states and returns have been made in 22 states. While the election was suspended in Rivers, it was declared inconclusive in six states namely Bauchi, Adamawa (North East); Benue and Plateau (North Central) and Sokoto and Kano (North West).
“Following the inconclusive governorship elections in the six states, the commission fixed supplementary elections for March 23, 2019. The supplementary governorship election earlier scheduled to hold in Bauchi State is now a subject of litigation which was initiated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Mohammed Abubakar.
“An interlocutory injunction to suspend the process has been served on the commission by the Federal High Court, Abuja. While the commission has compiled in accordance with its policy to obey all court orders in deference to the rule of law, it has also taken urgent steps to vacate the order and dismiss the action.
“It should, however, be noted that the litigation and consequential order only affected the collation of results for the governorship election in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area. Consequently, the supplementary elections will proceed as scheduled on Saturday, March 23 in the other 15 local government areas of Bauchi State as well as the Kirfi state constituency supplementary election in Kirfi Local Government Area.
“Similarly, the Adamawa State High Court issued an injunction restraining the commission from proceeding with the supplementary election following the application by the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), a registered political party which did not take part in the main election. While the commission has also complied with the order, it has equally taken steps to vacate it and dismiss the action.
“Notwithstanding the legal action over the supplementary governorship election, elections will hold in Nassarawo/Binyeri state constituency in Mayo-Belwa local government where the election had to be countermanded following the death of a candidate before the polls, as well as the supplementary state constituency election and Uba/Gaya state constituency in Hong Local Government Area,” the commission noted.
