INEC blames police for failure of December 10 polls in some LGs

chika ebuzor

February 22, 2017 7:37 AM

The police authorities had earlier alleged that Governor Nyesom Wike bribed INEC officials to rig the election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has indicted the police force in its report on the December 10, 2016 Rivers rerun election.

INEC also alleged that the care-free involvement of men of the police force in the election, led to the failure of the polls.

According to The Nation, INEC also accused the police of displaying ‘political partisanship’.

The Chairman of the committee that prepared the report, Prof Okechukwu Ibeanu also indicted a police officer, who he said tried to lure INEC officials from their duty posts.

An excerpt of the report reads: “One of the low points of the Rivers’ rerun of the 10th December, 2016 was the flagrant intervention of security operatives in the process.

“This was widely identified by staff of the Commission and independent observers alike as one of the major factors that led to the failure of the process in some local government areas.

“There were too many security agencies involved in the process outside the framework of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). It was not clear whether many of them were acting as part of their various organisations, or as groups and individuals serving political interests.

“Most importantly, many of them showed profound political partisanship. Ironically then, security operatives, who were expected to protect the process, turned on it.

ALSO READ:Gov Wike denies bribing INEC officials, calls police a shame

“But most mid-boggling were cases of hostage taking, hijack of materials and physical attacks on INEC officials by security operatives.”

The police authorities had earlier alleged that the Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike bribed INEC officialsto swing victory the way of the PDP during the Rivers rerun election.

chika ebuzor