INEC Getting Set To Take Legal Actions Against Peddlers of False Allegation.
The National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said that it is getting ready to charge those spreading spurious and wild allegations against the commission. It will be recalled that the 2019 general elections has been bedeviled by one allegation after another, according to hints emanating from within the commission, plans are underway to charge culprits to court.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, of the Enugu branch of the commission, Dr Emeka Ononadu said this while briefing the media at INEC’s Enugu office, Independent Layout, Enugu, after the elections on Monday, he warned that INEC was not ready to condone reckless allegations that cast aspersion on the electoral process.
“Although, certain political groups effortlessly tried to falsely label INEC and security agencies in an attempt to find one way or the other to scuttle the process, the maturity exhibited by citizens was enough to send their plans to the cleaners. INEC
“I am also studying those wide allegations for possibilities of seeking court redress because it is not only politicians that can always take INEC to court.
“INEC and its staff also have a name to protect; we are not going to tolerate reckless allegations that can cast aspersion on our democracy and electoral process. We are moving towards a direction when nobody will get away with any unsubstantiated allegation that robs off on the credibility of an election.”
He also thanked all stakeholders who participated in the election in the state for displaying,
“a rare attitude in this era of extreme political rascality displayed in different states during this election, which made the job extremely difficult for most of my skilled colleagues in other states.
“This is a testimony that democracy is reaching its maturity stage in Enugu and we hope that other parts of Nigeria will emulate the level of peaceful conduct exhibited during the general election. Ononammadu who bemoaned the level of voter apathy which was witnessed in the state during both the presidential and gubernatorial election in the state called on the people to objectively access the activities of the commission in the state.
“While we had teething logistics challenge during the presidential election, we overcame all of those challenges during the governorship election and became the first state that had the all the 4,145 polling locations to open before 8am on the election day.
“The only snag which I did not know the main reason was the voters apathy which saw less than half a million voters coming out to vote out of the 1.9 million registered voters and the 1.7 million voters with PVCs.
“We wish to announce that we have fulfilled our promise to Nigerians living in Enugu. Now is the time to review our performances in the face of numerous challenges among which are some uncontrollable variables. We want you to be objective and fair in your assessment of our performance.”
