INEC Boss Attahiru Jega
The recently conducted Governorship election in Rivers State remains valid as there was no concrete evidence to buttress irregularities, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega said Tuesday.
Speaking at the Civil Rights Situation Room in Abuja, Jega recalled that the Commission on receipt of petition from the All Progressives Congress (APC) immediately dispatched a three-man team to investigate.
According to him, the reports turned in by the committee did not in any way show any irregularities during the election.
His words, “We have no power to cancel elections results once returns have been made. On the petition against election irregularities in Rivers state, the commission sent three national commissioners to the state to investigate it. Some people don’t want elections to hold, they are the ones calling for cancellation.
“We investigate the allegation of fake result sheets in Rivers, our reports showed that there was nothing like that.”
Jega, also reiterated that he would not accept reappointment offer, adding that the Commission is partnering with the Police and the Nigerian Bar Association NBA to prosecute electoral offenders.
Recalling the happenings prior to the general elections, Jega said, “Evidently, some people did not want us to use the card reader machine. That was why we allowed manual election in some few places where the card reader did not function well during the Presidential election.
“Some people had already saying that we deliberately deployed card reader machine that will not in some zones and to prove them wrong, we instructed that manual voting should take place in such places. But some people want to take the advantage of that.
“But during governorship elections, we ensured that all the card reader machines worked. We have earlier sent warning to all the RECs that they will be held responsible for any card reader that did not work properly”.
Clement Nwankwo, the convener of the Situation Room and Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre PLAC, congratulated the INEC boss on successful peaceful polls on behalf of the Civil Societies.
Speaking at the Civil Rights Situation Room in Abuja, Jega recalled that the Commission on receipt of petition from the All Progressives Congress (APC) immediately dispatched a three-man team to investigate.
According to him, the reports turned in by the committee did not in any way show any irregularities during the election.
His words, “We have no power to cancel elections results once returns have been made. On the petition against election irregularities in Rivers state, the commission sent three national commissioners to the state to investigate it. Some people don’t want elections to hold, they are the ones calling for cancellation.
“We investigate the allegation of fake result sheets in Rivers, our reports showed that there was nothing like that.”
Jega, also reiterated that he would not accept reappointment offer, adding that the Commission is partnering with the Police and the Nigerian Bar Association NBA to prosecute electoral offenders.
Recalling the happenings prior to the general elections, Jega said, “Evidently, some people did not want us to use the card reader machine. That was why we allowed manual election in some few places where the card reader did not function well during the Presidential election.
“Some people had already saying that we deliberately deployed card reader machine that will not in some zones and to prove them wrong, we instructed that manual voting should take place in such places. But some people want to take the advantage of that.
“But during governorship elections, we ensured that all the card reader machines worked. We have earlier sent warning to all the RECs that they will be held responsible for any card reader that did not work properly”.
Clement Nwankwo, the convener of the Situation Room and Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre PLAC, congratulated the INEC boss on successful peaceful polls on behalf of the Civil Societies.
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