The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday said it had begun administrative study of the field reports filed by its officers that participated in Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra State.
The reports are on the late arrival of materials, absence of voting materials in some areas and complaints by voters that their names were not on the register.
Mr. Kayode Idowu, the chief press secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, made this known to The PUNCH as indications emerged that the police would arrest more senior electoral officers in Anambra State.
It was gathered that the move to arrest the officers followed confessional statements made by the electoral officer for the Idemili North Local Government Area, who was arrested on Sunday in Awka.
He said, “The electoral officer has been handed over to the police to be investigated. But INEC is doing administrative interrogation of all other reports from the field.
“Issues like lateness of materials would be included because it violates the plan. Absence of materials and all those reports from the field, including complaints of voters not finding their names on the register would also be involved.”
He added that Jega had summoned all field officers in the election for a meeting on Thursday (today).
Idowu also denied an allegation by the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Dr. Chris Ngige, that INEC used students for the controversial election instead of National Youth Service Corps members.
The CPS to Jega said, “INEC has an MoU with the NYSC that governs the partnership on elections. Could INEC have sidestepped the MoU without contacting the NYSC? Students get enlisted only where NYSC hasn’t got the numbers required, and I am not aware that that happened in this Anambra State election.”
Idowu said the INEC leadership held an “operational audit meeting involving a debriefing of field officers for the election.”
The PUNCH gathered that the electoral official in police custody had been quizzed by detectives who wanted to know how the plot to undermine the election was hatched, the sponsors and other people involved in the plan.
A top police source said that information so far gleaned from him showed that senior INEC and Anambra State officials may be invited for questioning.
He said, “Though the suspect has been cooperative, we are being careful with the information we get; but we are making progress.”
Efforts to get the police to respond to Ngige’s allegation that a policeman thumbprint ballot papers for APGA and the PDP did not succeed.
Also on Wednesday, the APC described as totally inexplicable and unjustifiable, the continued detention of the 182 election observers who it said were illegally arrested in Imo State two days to the governorship election.
The Interim National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement, expressed shock at “the brazen contempt displayed by the police” when the observers were brought before a magistrate on Monday.
Copyright PUNCH.
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