Polls: Rivers INEC-REC sues for patience

The Residents Electoral Commissioner for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Rivers, Dr Johnson Alalibo, has urged Rivers voters and all stakeholders to be patient and to trust the process of electioneering.

Alalibo gave the advice in a briefing on Sunday to journalists at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.

He explained that the presidential and national assembly election results were collected primarily from the polling units via form EC8A, EC8A1 and ECSAA2.

Alalibo said the process went on smoothly in all the LGAs, though the presiding officers had a problem uploading results from polling units to the INEC result portal.

Alalibo attributed the problem to poor network which, he said, was a national issue.

He said he had received orders from the headquarter to conduct an election within 24 hours in all the areas the election did not hold due to one problem or the other apart from violence that will not affect the outcome of the elections.

Alalibo explained that the electoral act in section 473 of the electoral act 2023 allows the election to be conducted within 24 hours if the BIVAS malfunctions.

He said that the Commission was unable to deploy about seven registration areas out of 17 registration areas in Degema Local Government Area in the state.

He said that the Commission would possibly conduct the election in the seven areas in Degema Monday, Feb. 27.

Alalibo said that results collation at the state level would start immediately after the results arrived from the collation centers at the Commission headquarters in Rivers.

“We are yet to receive results from LGAs, I and the Commissioner of Police have been here waiting for the results, once they start coming in, we will state collation,” Alalibo said.

He said that the collation would be going on simultaneously at other constituencies’ collation centers for the senatorial and house of representatives elections.

Alalibo said that the headquarters would tackle the challenges of non uploaded of wards results of some local government areas in the state from the polling units.

He said that any issue of result that could not be handled by the state commission would be directed to the national headquarter.