The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has criticised politicians who were at its Edo State office in Benin city in the early hours of Sunday over the collation of the governorship election results.
The election umpire spoke on Sunday in a statement by its national commissioner and member of the information and voter education committee, Mohammed Haruna.
According to Mr Haruna, the commission was disturbed by a report of threat to the INEC office in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area as reported by its resident electoral commissioner.
He said the threat resulted in a stampede that left one INEC official injured.
“We are similarly disturbed by the overnight presence and demonstrations by some political actors and their supporters at our State Head Office ahead of the commencement of final collation. These actions are uncalled for. Nobody should disrupt the process at any stage and no one will be allowed to benefit from lawlessness,” Haruna said.
INEC said collation of results will proceed as provided for by the Electoral Act 2022 and the commission’s guidelines for the conduct of elections.
“The Commission calls on the security agencies to continue to maintain the same vigilance and professionalism that led to the peaceful conduct of the election as we conclude the process,” the statement said.
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki arrived at the INEC headquarters in Benin at midnight where he held an over four-hour meeting with some INEC officials and the deputy inspector-general of police, Frank Mba, in charge of the police team supervising the election. He left around 4:47 a.m.
The PDP governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, and his running mate, Osarodion Ogie, also visited the collation centre.
The APC raised objections over the development, saying the PDP was trying to manipulate results.
Explaining why he was at the collation centre, Obaseki told journalists on Sunday at the PDP situation room in Benin that he went to meet the resident electoral commissioner after receiving reports that the commission had stopped collation.
He said, “At about 1am, I got a report that collation was supposed to have been moved to the INEC head office. I also got reports from our agents that PDP agents were not allowed into the collation centre.
“At that point in time, I called the REC to find an explanation of what was going on. There was no response, and I then went to the INEC office to meet with the REC and to understand what steps INEC was taking to continue the process of collation.”
