Activities of saboteurs were largely responsible for the observed pitfalls of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the last elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Imo State, Professor Francis Ezeonu, disclosed this yesterday, when he played host to religious leaders that paid him a courtesy call in his office.
“There were a lot of factors that bugged the last elections. One major issue was security. INEC is not in charge of security. Sometimes, when you go into the field, thinking that you are working with somebody, you would not know that the fellow is serving another person’s interest, and it was a major problem”, Ezeonu said.
While saying that the electoral process was sabotaged several times and places, the Commissioner also said that there were deliberate efforts by politicians to make sure that the Registration Area Camps, RAC, we talked about, did not work.
“Before the elections, we were assured that the Police High Command was going to withdraw all police orderlies attached to individuals, but it didn’t happen. These people moved from place to place with their orderlies, causing a lot of problems. These are not things within our immediate control”, Ezeonu lamented.
He recalled with grief that he promised Imo people that voting would start in all polling units at 8am, but this did not happen.
“It may interest you to know that on Friday, before the elections, when we had issued letters to the Supervising Presiding Officers, SPOs, after awhile, most of them switched off their phones”, the Commissioner told the bishops.
According to the REC, “as soon as some of these adhoc staff got their letters, they moved straight to politicians to bargain”, stressing that some of them sold their letters.
Speaking earlier, the leader of the group, who doubles as the Vice President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Dr. Cosmas Ilechukwu, urged INEC to “ensure a free, fair and credible gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections”.
The bishops urged the REC to “plug all loopholes that almost messed up the last Presidential and National Assembly elections”.
While assuring INEC staff and the adhoc workers of their prayers, the bishops also appealed to Imolites to come out and cast their votes today.
VANGUARC
