• Friday, March 29, 2024
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INEC to postpone elections in Rivers, Anambara, Lagos

Rivers-election

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC would postpone elections in some parts of Rivers, Anambara and Lagos States where polls could not hold due to the burning of election materials and other acts of violence.

INEC has mandated Resident Electoral Commissioners in the affected States to immediately submit comprehensive reports to enable the Commission takes further decisions including new dates for election in those areas.

Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education and Publicity Community gave this indication while briefing journalists on the update of the ongoing Presidential and National Assembly elections across the country.

“The Commission has also received reports of violence and ballot box snatching in some areas leading to the disruption of the process. We have asked the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Officials of the Commission on ground to submit their firsthand reports in relation to some of these incidence.

“We are still receiving reports relating to incidents in some states of the Federation but we have received reports relating to the incidence in Akoko Tulo and Boni Local government areas of Rivers state.

“So long as the Commission could not deploy in these areas, the implication is that polls did not open in those areas and the Commission will hold consultations with the relevant authorities and with the Resident Electoral Commissioners in relation to these areas and will announce the date when polls will take place in these areas.

“In relation to the issue of burning of electoral materials and disruption of the electoral process, we have reports of some of these incidence from Anambara and we have reports of burning of electoral materials in Lagos”, Okoye said.

He also announced that in line with the regulations and guidelines for the conduct of the 2019 general elections released by INEC, elections have been shifted to the next day( Sunday) in polling units where polls could not open as at 2pm Saturday.

The INEC Spokesman noted that the Commission was generally satisfied with the process and procedure of the conduct of the elections despite the challenges relating to the late commencement of polls in some polling units.

“When I briefed you earlier in the day I did said some polling units opened on time and some polling units did not open on time. Between 8am and 10am in the morning, the summary of polling units that opened stood at 67.91%. The polling units that opened after 10am stood at 16. 96%. So at this moment, we recoded a total of 92.76% of the polling units opened.

“With regard to the challenges associated with the use of the Smart Card Reader in some polling units, most of these challenges were resolved and resolved on time”, he stated.

 

James Kwen, Abuja