INEC Lauds Improvement in Rivers Re-run

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has lauded the conduct of the Saturday re-run legislative elections in Rivers state as a huge step-up when compared to the suspended exercise in March held in the state, earlier this year. 

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, while speaking in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja said that the level of violence during this election had reduced drastically when compared to what happened during the previous rescheduled election.

Mr. Oyyekanmi said:

“Generally, the trail of violence is not as what we witnessed in March.
“In March, a person was killed and the commission was forced to close the election, but in this Saturday exercise, there is no strong indication for us to say that we are suspending the election again.”

“We think that relatively, we should be able to conclude the process peacefully, the security agencies should be commended for securing most of the places used for the elections.”

‘’Voting in some places have been concluded and collation ongoing.
“We are assuring Nigerians that we are building on our achievements in Edo and Ondo in term of credibility of elections in the country,’’

Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi went on to say that measures were already being put in place to make sure that the result collation goes on smoothly, without any hitches from those with the intention of hijacking ballot boxes, rigging elections or fermenting trouble.

“A lot of precautionary measures have been put in place to ensure that hijacking of election results witnessed in the suspended elections in March does not reoccur”, he concluded.