The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has issued a serious warning to politicians and supporters to desist from any actions that will disrupt the collations of results in the just recently held Edo State gubernatorial election.
INEC National Commissioner and Member, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna gave this warning in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
He said that INEC was affected by reports of threats resulting in a stampedein at its office in Okpoba Okha LGA and they were also appalled by the actions of some of the politicians at its head office in Edo State.
He said that following the conclusion of voting on Saturday, the Commission activated the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and uploaded the Polling Unit results, and the same results had also been collated from all 192 wards.
Collation has been concluded in most of the LGAs and designated officials are already at the collation centre in Benin City or on their way.
The national commissioner explained that there is a way to address complaints during the collation process, this includes the power to review results declared under dures and the commission would not hesitate to invoke such powers where necessary.
He also said that accredited party agents, observers and the media should be granted unrestricted access to all collation centres and the security agencies should continue to maintain the same vigilance and professionalism that led to the peaceful conduct of the election.
“We are set to commence state-level collation. However, the Commission received a deeply disturbing report from our Resident Electoral Commissioner of a threat to our office in Okpoba Okha on Saturday, resulting in a stampede in which one of our officials was injured.
“We are similarly disturbed by the overnight presence and demonstrations by some political actors and their supporters at our State Head Office ahead of the commencement of final collation.
“These actions are uncalled for. Nobody should disrupt the process at any stage and no one will be allowed to benefit from lawlessness.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the collation of results will proceed as provided by the Electoral Act 2022 and our regulations and guidelines for the conduct of elections,” he said.
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