INEC promises transparency in Adamawa supplementary gov poll
The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will conduct a credible supplementary governorship election in Adamawa State. It said the election would be the pride of citizens and of the international community.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, gave the assurance on Saturday in Abuja when some women staged a protest at the commission’s headquarters in respect of the Adamawa election.
The protesters were led by the President of the National Council of Women Societies, Hajiya Lami Lau.
Earlier, INEC had declared the governorship election held last Saturday in the state inconclusive due to the margin of votes recorded in the election by the candidates.
The commission declared that cancelled votes at the election were more than the margin of victory between the PDP candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, and Senator Aishatu Binani of the All Progressives Congress.
While addressing the protesters, Okoye said a new date would be fixed for rerun elections in areas where the exercise did not hold or were not conclusive.
He said, “We regard our role in INEC as public trust; any individual, group or organisations with any grievance or complaint is free to come here and voice or ventilate their grievances.
“We will go back and give the people of the state the opportunity to have a conclusion relating to their governorship election.
“The commission will go back to Adamawa and conduct a supplementary election that Nigerians and the international community will be proud of.”
Lau commended INEC for upholding its integrity in Abia and Enugu states by ensuring that the right thing was done.