- Says Atiku’s request for election materials made on Friday
- Promises to attend to it
- APC describes commission’s decisions on Rivers, Bauchi States polls as Illega
- PDP insists electoral body’s verdicts proper, asks Tambuwal be declared Sokoto gov-elect
- Presidency: APC leaders upset Buhari won’t interfere with conduct of extra election
Following the unprofessional conduct of some military personnel during the March 9, 2019 governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, especially the invasion of the collation centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it did not request for the deployment of soldiers in its collation centres.
“I am not aware that the commission requested for the deployment of soldiers in collation centres,” INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education and Publicity Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, told THISDAY yesterday.
He said the commission would, therefore, hold high level meetings with the leadership of security agencies before the conduct of supplementary elections scheduled for Saturday to avoid a repeat of what happened in the earlier elections.
The electoral body had fixed March 23, 2019 for conduct of supplementary elections to conclude the process and make returns in the governorship elections in Adamawa, Sokoto, Bauchi, Benue, Kano and Plateau States, which it had earlier declared as inconclusive.
Though the commission later reversed itself on Bauchi State as it approved the resumption and conclusion of the collation of results of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, after the committee set up by the commission established that the result in Polling Units and Registration Areas are available and in safe custody.
The committee also established that the number of cancelled votes for the four polling units in Ningi Local Government Area, which was recorded as 25,330 in form EC40G (1) was incorrect, as the actual figure is 2,533.
Similarly, after the invasion of the collation centre in Port Harcourt, the commission had on March 10, 2019, suspended all electoral processes in Rivers State having determined that there was widespread disruption of collation of results of the elections conducted on March 9, 2019.
The commission subsequently set up a fact-finding committee to assess the situation and report back within 48 hours.
But after a week of silence, the committee set up by INEC established that the governorship and state assembly elections in the state took place in most of the polling units and results were announced.
The committee also established that the results from 17 local governments out of 23 are available and are in the commission’s custody, adding that the declaration and returns for 21 state constituencies out of 32 were made prior to the suspension.
The committee stated: “INEC expresses its displeasure with the role played by some soldiers and armed gangs in Rivers State, disrupting the collation process and attempting to subvert the will of the people.
“INEC is committed to expeditious completion of the collation process where results of the elections have been announced.”
INEC, therefore, assured Nigerians that it would issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
However, while responding to THISDAY enquiry yesterday, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Festus Okoye, said that the meeting with the security agencies would focus on professionalism and the proper role of security agencies engaged in election security.
He stressed that the meeting would underlie the importance of delivering supplementary elections that would meet the requisite threshold of credibility and transparency.
The National Commissioner noted that Nigerian people want an election that reflects the true voting preferences of the people.
Okoye explained further that at the national level, the commission has an inter-agency consultative committee on election security, saying that the committee meets quarterly and as at when due to review election security related matters and the different arms of the security services part of the committee.
He said: “On election security, there is no dispute whatsoever that the Nigerian Police is the lead agency on election security. However, based on its numerical strength and the size of the country, polling units and constituencies, the lead agency invites sister agencies to assist in providing security at the inner cordon of polling units.
“Security officers in the inner cordon do not bear arms. At the outer cordon are mobile police officers that can intervene rapidly when there is a challenge at the polling unit or when there is breakdown of law and order. The police drew up their deployment plans for the various collation centers and shared with the commission.
“Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that the commission can only request for the deployment of the Nigerian Armed Forces only for the purposes of securing the distribution and delivery of election materials and protection of election officials.”
Okoye said that the commission requested and received tremendous assistance from the Nigerian Air Force in airlifting and distribution of sensitive materials, stressing that the Navy has also been assisting in protecting election officials on the high seas.
On military deployment, he stated: “I am not aware that the commission requested for the deployment of soldiers to the collation centres.
“Constitutionally, the police can request for the assistance of the Nigerian Army in certain circumstances. The commission will continue to rely on the Nigerian Police Force as the lead agency on election security.
“The police and the commission will continue to enjoy the cooperation and assistance of other agencies especially in the inner cordon of the polling units.
“The commission does not deploy the military. The military are engaged in internal security operations in some states of the federation and it is the Commander-in-Chief and the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that can determine their deployment. Our expectation is that all the security agencies involved in election security must remain apolitical, professional and act ethically.”
Atiku Only Requested for Materials on Friday, Says INEC
The electoral umpire also denied refusing the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, access to election materials in line with the Court of Appeal’s order asking it to turn in the materials for the PDP candidate for his perusal.
INEC also said that the Nigerian Army and other security agencies are being engaged on what should be their level of involvement in the supplementary elections.
The PDP recently accused the electoral commission of denying its candidate, Atiku, access to inspect the documents and materials used in the February 23 presidential election.
The main opposition party said that the leadership of the commission led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had refused to obey the March 6 ruling of the Court of Appeal, directing it to allow the party to inspect the electoral materials and document used for the presidential election.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement Saturday in Abuja, said this was a deliberate and wicked ploy by INEC, acting in cahoots with the APC, to frustrate the people-backed resolve by Atiku and the PDP to timeously file and mention their petition at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
He said that the leadership of INEC and the APC were seeking to frustrate the party’s court option, seeing that the documents and materials would expressly show that Atiku clearly won the election by the votes directly delivered at the polling units across the country as well as expose how the commission and the Muhammadu Buhari presidency manipulated the results.
But speaking with THISDAY yesterday in Abuja, INEC said the statement by the main opposition party was not correct.
‘’It is not true that the PDP and its presidential candidate were denied access to election’s materials. That is not correct. To the best of my knowledge, we only received their request last Friday. And we are always available to attend to them whenever they are ready,’’ the INEC Director of Voters Education and Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi told THISDAY yesterday.
INEC recently condemned what it described as the role played by some soldiers and armed gangs in Rivers State, which it said led to the disruption of the electoral process.
In a statement dated March 15, Okoye said the action was an attempt to subvert the will of the people.
According to him, this was part of the submissions made after the commission set up a fact-finding committee to assess the situation in the state.
On their parts, EU and other international election monitors had said that going by their evaluations, many aspects of the general election, particularly the involvement of military personnel, were not in conformity with international best practice.
Following reports of widespread violence and other forms of intimidation in the state, collation of results and other activities for the governorship and state assembly elections were suspended on March 10.
Reiterating the INEC’s statement, Uzzi-Iyamu told THISDAY yesterday that the electoral commission was engaging the Army and other security agencies on what should be their level of involvement in the planned supplementary election, stating that the electoral law clearly states the level of the security agencies’ involvement in an election.
