Gladys Nweke
The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) in Rivers State has accused military and police personnel of placing the Rivers State INEC office under siege.
The INEC in Rivers State further declared that the military and police personnel were illegally screening Collation Officers, thereby obstructing the Collation process for the Rivers State Governorship Election.
The Head of INEC Department of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr Edwin Enabo made the declaration in an interview with newsmen at the INEC Headquarters in Port Harcourt.
“The INEC office was under siege by men in army uniforms, uniforms of the Air Force and police who took over. They stopped and screened people. They are clearing results before they enter the office to the extent that up till now no Collation has been done.
“We don’t understand where the people are deployed from. We are not accusing the Nigerian Army or the Nigerian Air Force, but we say the people right now in the office are wearing uniforms of Army and Air Force.
“If they are not from them, we are calling on them to come and rectify the situation and allow our officers to enter with their results without molestation and harassment”, the spokesman of INEC in Rivers State said.
He added: “Throughout the elections, we had so many reports of insecurity, molestation, harassment and assault on our staff and ad-hoc staff. Disruption of the Electoral process throughout the state in all the Local Government Areas with the consequence that by Saturday evening we were unable to get any results and by on Sunday, the office is under siege by men in Army, Air Force and Police Uniforms “.
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