Rivers Elections: INEC Weighs Four Options Today

DECLARE RESULTS, THAT’S THE BEST OPTION. OTHERWISE HOW DID ASSEMBLY MEMBERS GET ELECTED?

•APC, PDP set for make-up poll in six states

The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the African Action Congress (AAC), the
All Progressives Congress (APC) and other parties will today know their
fate on the stalemated governorship poll in Rivers State.

The
Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has summoned a
meeting of its management to receive and consider the report of a
fact-finding team it sent to the Southsouth state.

The electoral
body may receive also the report on its investigation into the
disruption of the poll in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi
State.

But top on the list of issues before INEC, as at last night, is the suspended election in Rivers State.

A
source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The panel on Rivers State will
on Friday submit its report to INEC management. Thereafter, the Chairman
of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his team will consider the findings
and make a pronouncement.

“We are aware of the interest which the
suspension of the elections in Rivers State has generated and we want
to resolve it as soon as possible.”

There are four options before INEC, The Nation has learnt. They are:

whether or not to cancel the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers State;
Restricted conduct of elections only in units, wards or areas affected by violence.

Announcement of collated or retrieved results if the security situation does not permit a fresh poll;
declaring the results as it were and leaving the aggrieved to go to the tribunal.

According to the source, any delay in taking a decision may lead to a constitutional crisis in the state.

“INEC
will be fair, just, equitable and it will be guided by the Electoral
Act, 2010( as amended) in its decision on Rivers State.

“The
panel has concluded its assignment. Were it not for the issuance of
Certificates of Return to senators and Representatives-elect, we would
have considered the report on Rivers on Thursday (yesterday).”

A
statement last Sunday by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of
Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, said: “The
commission has decided to suspend all electoral processes in Rivers
State until further notice.

“This is in line with Section 26 of
the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and Clause 47(e) of the regulations
and guidelines of the commission.”

As at press time, it was
gathered that the team which investigated the disruption of the
collation and cancellation of results in Tafawa Balewa Local Government
Area of Bauchi State had concluded its assignment.

“We will look
at the findings of this committee to guide the conduct of supplementary
elections in the state on March 23,” the source said.

The two leading parties – APC and PDP – have started preparations for the make-up poll ordered in six states on March 23.

The
national leadership of the PDP said yesterday that the party was set
for the supplementary poll in states where the elections were declared
inconclusive.

The states are: Kano, Bauchi, Benue, Sokoto, Adamawa and Plateau.

Rising
from an emergency National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja
yesterday, the party should demanded that INEC release the results of
the elections in those states and make returns as appropriate.

In
a statement after the emergency meeting, PDP spokesman Kola
Ologbondiyan insisted that the party was in clear lead in the states
where the poll was declared inconclusive.

He accused INEC
Chairman Prof Mahmood Yakubu of bias, citing “the results of the
governorship election in Ogun State where the APC candidate was declared
winner even when the margin of lead between him and the runner up was
lower than the number of cancelled votes”.

The main opposition
party regretted that INEC denied victory for PDP governorship candidates
who found themselves in similar circumstances in the affected states.

The
statement reads: “The PDP found it strange that INEC can have two sets
of rules in the same election for the various political parties.

“More
worrisome is the resolution which arose from a meeting between some
governors of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari, where the PDP has
been informed that a decision was taken to seize Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue,
Plateau, Sokoto and Kano states in the March 23 scheduled supplementary
election.”

The PDP said it had deliberated and interfaced with
stakeholders from the various states where governorship supplementary
elections have been scheduled to hold.

It added that
following the deliberations, the party had mandated all its members to
resist any attempt by anybody to tamper with the will of the people in
their states.

The PDP said it was sure of victory in the affected states.

KANO

In
Kano, a non-governmental organisation under the auspices of Kano State
Civil Society Situation Room has filed a petition against the government
over alleged attempt to buy votes ahead of the March 23 poll.

The
co-convener of the petition comrade Abdulrazaq Alkali told reporters
shortly after submitting the petition to the zonal office of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Kano, that his group
was aware of the anti-graft agency’s efforts at curbing vote buying.

Alkali explained that the petition was filed to draw EFCC’s attention to alleged withdrawal from the state’s treasury.

He urged the commission to investigate his group’s allegation.

The Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Murtala Sule Garo, described the petition as baseless.

Garo
explained that the money withdrawn by the government was released to 13
councils out of which five were not among the local governments where
the extra polls will take place.

“The funds released on the 12th
of March were meant for executing government developmental projects,”
the commissioner explained.

BENUE

Ahead of the make-up
poll, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Elders Council has called for
more security personnel to curtail violence.

The council said: “From reports available, there is a plan to disrupt the re-run, especially in APC strongholds.”

The
council’s spokesman, Chief Terlumun Akputu, told reporters in Makurdi
that security should be strengthened to stamp out vote buying and
intimidation.

Akputu advised INEC to insist on the use of the Electronic Card Readers (ECRs) before accepting any result from polling units.

“There
is where in Nigeria that APC recorded zero votes, except In Guma Local
Government Area despite having candidates and agents which he said were
chased out of the polling units,” the council said.

BAUCHI

The
Katagum Youth for Change (KYC) yesterday cautioned House of
Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara against creating a crisis in the
state.

It urged the Speaker and the PDP to stop misleading Nigerians on the political situation in the state.

KYC
Chairman Mustapha Aleh spoke in Abuja against the backdrop of the
eruption of violence in Bauchi after the governorship poll was declared
inconclusive.

He said: “It is obvious that Bauchi erupted into violence after a briefing by the Speaker and PDP leaders in the state.

“We
wish to warn Dogara and PDP against introducing a dangerous dimension
to the politics of the state because of the desperation to make a cheap
political point.

“The impression of lack of perfornance by
Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar that Dogara and his gang of PDP
desperados try to create is false, unfounded and should be disregarded.”

Source:- Thenationonlineng