INEC Apologises To NAF Over Wrongful Accusation Of Rivers Election Disruption

The Independent National Electoral Commission has apologized to the Nigerian Air Force for wrongfully accusing it of using its personnel to invade its premises in Rivers State and disrupt the collation of results in the protracted governorship and House of Assembly polls.

It
will be recalled that the Spokesman for the INEC in Rivers State had
accused the NAF and other security agencies of invading its collation
centre and disrupting the exercise thereby forcing it to discontinue the
declaration of results, a development that is currently generating
tension across the country and beyond.

But apparently realizing
its mistake, INEC said on Tuesday that it had discovered that none of
the NAF personnel was involved in the chaos that was recorded in the
premises at the weekend leading to the suspension of poll results
collation and announcement.

In the statement absolving NAF
entitled: “Inadvertent Involvement of the Nigerian Air Force in the
Disruption of the March 9 2019 Collation Process”, INEC said it also
discovered that the men in military uniforms were neither not from the
NAF.

The statement which was made available to Vanguard on
Tuesday was signed by the Head of Voter Education in Rivers State, Mr.
Edwin Enabor for the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Obo Effanga.

The
statement said: “Further to our investigation and clarification from
the NAF Command in Rivers State on the invasion of our
offices/disruption of collation process by armed men in military
uniforms, the commission wishes to state that the persons purported to
have worn the Air Force uniforms were neither personnel of the service
nor authorized by the service to be at INEC office.

“The commission therefore wishes to express its regret at the embarrassment this might have caused the NAF,” INEC said.

The apology by INEC notwithstanding, its earlier claim at the weekend that military personnel took over its premises and hijacked the collation of results, has gone viral and attracted global attention, forcing some countries to issue threats against Nigeria.

Source:- Vanguardngr