The independent national electoral commission, INEC has delivered a harsh rebuke against the misconduct of soldiers and other military men posted on election duties in controversial circumstance in Rivers on March 9.
Many stakeholders had alleged that members of the military were used to disrupt election result collation in a number of centres, causing mayhem which led to the suspension of the process and in its findings, INEC acknowledged there was “widespread disruption of collation of results of the elections conducted on the 9th day of March 2019.
“That collation centres were invaded by some soldiers and armed gangs resulting in the intimidation and unlawful arrest of election officials thereby disrupting the collation process.”
The commission which has now decided to complete the governorship election process suspended in Rivers state said after a high level meeting in Abuja late Friday, “consequent upon the foregoing, the Commission 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 Will engage the security agencies at national level and the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee at the State level to demand neutrality and professionalism of security personnel in order to secure a peaceful environment for the completion of the elections.
“INEC will also engage with key stakeholders in Rivers State with a view to ensuring a smooth and peaceful completion of the process. Will issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election on Wednesday March 20th, 2019
