INEC tells Politicians to take Issues to Tribunal
The Independent National Electoral Commission has advised politicians who have issues with election results to take their grievances to the election petition tribunals.
INEC released a statement issued in Abuja, claiming that although the April 11 elections were marred by pockets of violence, the commission still scored a passmark as the elections went well across the country.
The commission said, “The process of accreditation with Smart Card Readers was also successful in a majority of the polling units.
“Initial challenges were recorded in Edo and Abia states, but the technical teams deployed to support the states were able to resolve the issues in a timely manner.”
The commission said that preliminary reports it got showed that 88.9 per cent of polling units opened for accreditation between 8am and 10am across the country and that only 5.2 per cent had yet to open as of 1 pm.
Also, it claimed that 73 per cent of the polling units had commenced voting by 2.30 pm.
The electoral body said, “INEC’s records show that there were 66 reports of violent incidents targeted at polling units, the commission’s officials, voters and election materials.
“These were in Rivers State (16 incidents), Ondo (eight), Cross River and Ebonyi (six each), Akwa Ibom (five) Bayelsa (four), Lagos and Kaduna (three each), Jigawa, Enugu, Ekiti and Osun (two each), Katsina, Plateau, Kogi, Abia, Imo, Kano and Ogun (one each).
“The commission is investigating these incidents and will do everything within its powers to bring the culprits to justice.
“The commission called on every citizen to maintain the peace as the results of the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections are being processed, and to accept the official outcomes.
“It would like to emphasize that winners can only emerge after collation of the official results and on the basis of the requirements prescribed by the legal framework.
“Any aggrieved persons or groups are encouraged to seek redress at the tribunals.”
