The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it has no power to cancel the results of the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
It made this known to The PUNCH a few hours after the European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria on Monday called for a probe of the “severe problems” that characterised the polls in the two states.
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, said those calling on the commission to cancel the results were misdirecting their request.
He explained that once results had been announced by INEC , only election petition tribunals had the power to cancel and order fresh elections.
Idowu said, “The law does not allow us to cancel any result after it has been announced. Everyone knows this.
“It is only the election petition tribunals that can order that or even cancelled the elections. We would advice anyone who is aggrieved to go to the court. “
Also in Abuja on Monday, EU EOM said the elections in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states needed to be probed because of accusations of rigging, intimidation and violence by opponents of the winners.
No comments:
Post a Comment