EKITI DECIDES 2018 : FAYOSE’S ALLEGATIONS UNWARRANTED, SAYS INEC

Allegations made against The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, by Governor Ayodele Fayose, of Ekiti State has been denied by the Commission, describing the statement as baseless and untrue.
Governor Fayose had at a stakeholders’ forum earlier yesterday accuse the commission for allegedly conspiring with some others to rig the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State, by preloading the smart card readers to be used for the polls.

In a statement last night, the Commission said that after 180 elections including five governorship elections since 2015 that it had acquired a steely reputation for integrity, which would not be compromised at this stage.

INEC’s reaction by Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the chief press secretary to chairman read in part:
“We wish to emphasize that it is impossible for the Commission’s officials, any individual or group for that matter to pre-load the Smart Card Readers, SCRs, or provide ballot papers for stuffing as alleged. Indeed, the SCRs which perform the three functions of identifying, verifying and authenticating the voter and the Permanent Voter’s Card, PVC, can only function on the election day.

“In addition to the results sheets that we issue to party agents at the Polling Unit and at every level of collation, the Commission also deliberately introduced Form EC60E to show election results at the Polling Units, which is the most important level. This form is pasted at every Polling Unit after collation.
“To that extent, no INEC member of staff, no matter how highly placed, can rig an election in favour of or against any particular candidate or political party. This is as a result of the stringent processes and safeguards introduced by the Commission.

“It is not true as alleged that three INEC officials have been meeting with one of the candidates contesting in the Ekiti governorship election. The Commission has also not made any plans to hire members of any political party as Presiding Officers, PO, Assistant Presiding Officers, APO, or for any electoral position.
“Indeed, the Commission’s staff members have been working round the clock to ensure a free and fair election in Ekiti on July 14.”

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