No plans to remove Imo REC – INEC

The INEC stance is in spite of clamour Agu’s removal over alleged compromise.

Some governorship candidates had in Tuesday staged a walkout at a stakeholder meeting held in Owerri, the state capital, accusing the Commission of shady dealings.

However, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said INEC has no reason to remove the REC because there is no evidence to justify the allegations against her.
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“The REC will conduct the election. We don’t have any reason to remove her from there, and we don’t have any evidence that implicates her or proves any allegation that is being alleged at this time,” Oyekanmi said.

“The Commission takes its responsibility seriously, and we don’t joke with the conduct of elections, and when there are complaints against our officers, we also don’t joke with complaints, but you must provide evidence that our officers are culpable.”

He noted that the the Commission had disciplined its RECs in Abia, Sokoto and Adamawa states for flouting the provisions of the commission during the general elections earlier in the year, assuring all that INEC would be fair and unbiased.

He said: “The assurance we are giving to all political parties is that we are not going to allow any pandering towards any interest in this election; our interest is to conduct free, fair and credible elections.”

Furthermore, he revealed  that the INEC had deployed nine additional RECs and two national commissioners to each of three states where off cycle governorship elections will hold on Saturday.

Oyekanmi said there was no reason to doubt the capacity of security agencies, assuring voters in the three states that the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) would work on Saturday.

He disclosed that 46,000 commission staff had been deployed for the election on Saturday, adding that the same time, sensitive and non-sensitive materials, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines, have been delivered in the three states.