INEC reads riot act to political parties, supporters in Rivers

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, has warned political parties and their supporters against electoral violence and intimidation of electoral officers.
Mahmood, represented by the South-South National Commissioner of INEC, Mustapha Leki, gave the warning at an INEC stakeholders’ forum on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The forum was organised by INEC in preparation for the December 10 re-run elections in Rivers State.
Mahmood called on politicians against buying of votes, snatching of ballot boxes, abduction of electoral officials and other violations of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.
The chairman similarly reminded electoral officials that they were under oath and should therefore be neutral in carrying out their electoral duties.
Mahmood said: “Be warned of the consequences attendant to breaching this oath or showing bias or partisanship in any manner.”
Mahmood noted that the commission would not hesitate in bringing the full force of the law on such officials or sanctioning any official found wanting.
He said that the commission had deployed a large number of personnel to the state in a bid to ensure free and fair electoral process.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Aniedi Ikoiwac, said that Card Readers and other non-sensitive materials had been deployed to the local government areas.
Ikoiwac said that the modified voting procedure, which involved simultaneous accreditation and voting, would be adopted in the December 10 re-run elections.
Ikoiwac stated that Registration Area Centres where election officials and materials would be accommodated on the eve of the election had also been reactivated.
The REC also disclosed that the commission had concluded the training of supervisory presiding officers, NYSC members, and ad-hoc personnel forwarded to it by federal agencies.
He said that the commission had met with the inter consultative committee on security to fine tune plans towards ensuring adequate security for corps members, election officials and others.