INEC explains delay in announcing governorship election
By CHINYERE Ogbonna – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says there is nothing unusual in the delay in announcing the results of Governorship and State Assemblies elections.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, made the point while speaking with journalists on election matters this morning.
Mr. Idowu who explained the process of collating the results maintained that this cannot be truncated.
He said results from each Polling Unit would first be collated at the ward level and then sent to the Local Government level.
This according to the INEC’s spokesman, implies that the Local Government would collate the results from all its wards, before forwarding them to state capital where all results from the local governments would be collated and must be confirmed to have tallied.
Only then can the result be announced to the public.
Responding to allegations of compromise made against some INEC officials, Mr Idowu said that the commission would be willing to discipline any of its officials found wanting.
On the commission’s plan regarding persons arrested for electoral offences during the Saturday’s poll, he reiterated an earlier stance that INEC is not an agency that arrests as they can only prosecute based on investigation and reports provided by security agencies.
