Akwa Ibom APC gov candidate accuses INEC of denying him access to election materials

…as INEC accuses politicians of compromising its staff during 2019 polls

The governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of denying his legal team access to election materials.

This is even as INEC has accused some unnamed politicians of compromising some of its staff during the just concluded 2019 general elections.

According to the APC governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere, INEC is frustrating his case by denying his legal team access to materials used in the last governorship election in the state.

Speaking with newsmen in Akwa Ibom, the leader of the legal team of the APC governorship candidate, Chief Victor Iyanam, said he has consequently written to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini, accusing him of disobeying tribunal orders and bias against Ekere.

In his letter, dated April 26, Iyanam said: “We are however distressed by the delay, refusal and unwholesome excuses given by your office for non-compliance with the order of the Election Petition Tribunal of the April 15, 2019 in Petition No. EPT/AKS/GOV/01/2019.”

According to Iyanam, INEC’s excuse include non-availability of the materials as a result of transport challenges in bringing them from the local government areas, inadequate staff to carry out those duties and the fact that INEC staff are busy with Senator Godswill Akpabio’s inspections.

He noted that the excuses were untenable in the light of the short period of time “to prove our case at the Election Petition Tribunal,” adding, “we regret to state that your staff appear to be acting the script of the PDP.”

However, INEC Commissioner in charge of Information Festus Okoye, laid the accusations against politicians during the presentation of the 2019 General Election Report and 2019 General Election Observation Statements, organised by Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) and Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.

Okoye who represented the chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, at the event staged in Abuja reiterated that “politicians moved in to corrupt some of the ad-hoc staff and unleashed violence on others.”

He said the timeline is inadequate and does not give the “Commission enough time to procure sensitive materials required for the conduct of elections” and that INEC is concerned about the recruitment of Ad-hoc staff.

The INEC spokesman also disclosed that the Commission would review the “rough edges and issues raised; relating to deployment, neutrality and overall conduct of security agencies.”