The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed concern about security threats, harassment, abduction, and in one case, the murder of one of its employees by party thugs during the weekend Governorship and State Assembly elections.
Reports showed that the Commission’s ad hoc and regular staff were being openly intimidated in its Obingwa Local Government Area office in Abia State.
Barrister Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter’s Education Committee, told journalists in Abuja, the nation’s capital that actors over whom the Commission has no control succeeded in disrupting the election process and its security framework.
Okoye stated that INEC was resolved to take firm action to ensure the integrity of the election as it values the security of its officials.
Okoye said of the Obingwa Local Government Area office in Abia State, where thugs are challenging the proclamation of collated results, the behaviour of these thugs is unacceptable, and the results will be thoroughly reviewed.