The Independent National Electoral Commission says it does not know if in the River State governorship poll that was marred by violence, soldiers rigged elections. Festus Okoye, the INEC National Information and Voter Education Commissioner, said this during a Monday interview on the Sunrise Daily program of Channels TV.
Okoye explained that INEC went on a fact-finding mission to the state after the Rivers State elections were suspended and, based on some findings, the commission would hold a meeting with the heads of security agencies.
When asked if INEC investigation showed the military rigged elections, Okoye said, “The fact-finding mission that we sent to Rivers found that the military had intervened in some places. We saw them in the office of INEC and they agreed to be at some collation centers on election day.
“We didn’t go out to find out who was rigging elections or who wasn’t rigging. We made a determination that the army was involved in the electoral process but whether their involvement in the process was to rig the elections, I am not in a position to make a determination on that,” he added.
The INEC boss said that a meeting would take place with all stakeholders, including traditional and religious leaders, to ensure that the Rivers State electoral process is peaceful. When asked if the All Progressives Congress would be invited to the meeting as the APC is not on the ballot, Okoye said that inviting the party was not wrong.
He added, “The APC is a stakeholder and we will invite all registered political parties when we hold a stakeholder meeting. So, we’re going to invite them.”
Observers from the European Union lamented last week that soldiers were preventing them from monitoring the Rivers State elections on March 9. The British government also lamented the role played by the army in the state, accusing the security agency of undermining INEC’s job.
While the army set up a committee to examine the allegations, it rejected the allegations leveled against it, insisting that the election was disrupted by hoodlums in camouflage.
