The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised an alarm over the invasion of its headquarters in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday night by some political actors and their supporters.
The political actors reportedly demonstrated at the electoral umpire’s head office overnight ahead of the commencement of final collation of the Saturday’s governorship election results.
The Commission’s National Commissioner & Member, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, who raised the alarm in a statement issued on Sunday morning also decried the attack on the Commission’s office in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area on Saturday, where one of its officials was injured.
According to reports, following the violence in Igbeben, Ikpoba Okha, INEC stopped the collation of the results for the governorship election in the Oredo Local Government Area (LGA).
The governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Olumide Akpata is from Oredo LGA which is one of the largest voting councils in the state.
The largest voting council area is Ikpoba Okha local government area.
Report has it that collation of the results was disrupted on Sunday at Oredo and Ikpoba/Okha local government area collation centre when observers and INEC officials were tear-gassed by security personnel.
In the statement, Haruna, while calling on security personnel for adequate security at the state headquarters, warned against any form of disruption of the process, and asked all the parties involved to follow due process in expressing their concerns.
He said, “Following the conclusion of voting yesterday, the Commission activated the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and uploaded the Polling Unit results in earnest. The same results have also been collated from all the 192 Wards.
“Similarly, collation has been concluded in most of the Local Government Areas and the designated officials are already at the collation centre in Benin City or on their way. 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 Local Government Area yesterday, 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.
“There is a mechanism for redressing complaints during collation, including the power to review results declared under duress. The Commission will not hesitate to invoke such powers where necessary.
“Accredited party agents, observers and the media should be granted unimpeded access to all collation centres.
“The Commission calls on the security agencies to continue to maintain the same vigilance and professionalism that led to the peaceful conduct of the election as we conclude the process.”
