The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected allegations that it was biased during the January 25 court ordered re-run elections in parts of the country.
The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Festus Okoye, said on Monday in Abuja that the commission conducted court-ordered re-run elections in 30 constituencies in 12 states of the federation and made declarations and returns.
According to him, in the re-run elections in the South East of Nigeria, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won the election in two constituencies in Abia state and that in the three constituencies where the commission conducted elections in Imo State, the Action Alliance (AA), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) secured one seat each.
“The commission conducted the court-ordered re-run elections under very difficult circumstances occasioned by the desperation and unwholesome activities of some of the political actors bent on compromising and disrupting the process, thus endangering the safety of the staff and attempting to secure their predetermined outcomes.
“Staff of the commission risked their lives, performed under delicate conditions and engaged in electoral operations aimed at protecting the integrity of the process and ensuring credible outcomes.
“The commission’s code of conduct ensures that all our staff remain non-partisan in the discharge of their official duties. This is the only way they can maintain the delicate balance between all the contending political parties and candidates in the political process.
“It is therefore unhelpful and counterproductive to profile senior staff of the commission operating in any part of the country and paint them with the brush of partisanship just to score political points,” Okoye said.
He added, “Decisions of courts and tribunal are final and the rule of law dictates that all authorities and persons give effect to them.
“Rather, the commission will focus on its efforts and that of other institutions to bring about necessary reforms to give Nigerians comprehensive and robust electoral framework that will take care of perceived and identified flaws and lacunae in the electoral process.”
He noted that INEC conducted the general elections in 2019 to fill 1,558 positions and that arising from the conduct of the elections, some political parties and candidates filed petitions before the various Election Petitions Tribunals and Courts to ventilate their grievances and all the petitions have been determined.
He said, “For the records, a total of 807 post-election petitions were filed, out of which 582 were dismissed, 183 withdrawn by the petitioners and only 30 petitions, representing less than 2 percent of the total resulted in orders by the tribunals and courts to the commission to rerun the elections.”
Meanwhile, Okoye said two fire incidents were reported at INEC offices in Idemili North Local Government area in Anambra State and Orlu Local Government Area in Imo state at the weekend.
He said that though no life was lost, the extent of the damage is still being assessed and that the commission has reported the two incidents to the Police and Fire Service in the respective states and investigations are underway to determine the causes.
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