INEC suspends NASS elections in Port Harcourt

Tina Amanda

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Rivers State, Dr. Johňson Alalibo Sinikiem, has said that the commission has suspended Port Harcourt local government area National Assembly results for alleged irregularities.

Dr. Sinikiem, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the state Headquarters in Port Harcourt, said the commission will conduct a thorough investigation before further action will be taken.

He notified that the commission has also been notified of the threat to the life of the State Collation Officer for the presidential election in Rivers Professor Teddy Charles Adias, noting that the duties of the Professor are to collate results.

The REC urged all concerned to seize unleashing threats or harm to the Professor as he is not involved in voting, computation, or validation such as votes by parties at the primary and secondary levels in Rivers State.

Sinikiem said: “I want to urge the public and our critical stakeholders to know that the function of a state collation officer is just to collate results of elections conducted at the various Local Government Areas of the State.

“He is not a supervising presiding officer nor a presiding officer that conducts elections at the polling units. He is only collating results already collated at the local government area level that cannot be changed except by the verdict of an Election Tribunal.

“I urge those concerned, to seize forthwith in unleashing threats because his job does not involve accreditation, voting, counting, computation, validation of votes by parties at primary and Secondary levels”.

He further called on security agencies including the Commissioner of Police and Co-Chairman, the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to help in halting attempts to truncate the collation of presidential election results in Rivers.