{"id":64915,"date":"2019-02-20T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T16:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=64915"},"modified":"2019-02-20T17:19:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T16:19:00","slug":"focus-on-conduct-of-credible-elections-ignore-apc-calls-on-akwa-ibom-rec-group-counsels-inec-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/focus-on-conduct-of-credible-elections-ignore-apc-calls-on-akwa-ibom-rec-group-counsels-inec-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on conduct of credible elections, ignore APC calls on Akwa Ibom REC, Group counsels INEC boss"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof.
\nMahmood Yakubu has been urged to focus more on the conduct of free,
\nfair and credible elections on Saturday, rather than noise from the
\nAll Progressives Congress, APC for the redeployment of the Akwa Ibom
\nState Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mike Igini and other
\nofficials of the commission that appeared to have refused to do the
\nbiddings of the ruling party.<\/p>\n

The Elections Transparency Group, ETG, which made the call on
\nWednesday, said it was suspicious that the APC National Chairman,
\nAdams Oshiomhole singled out the Akwa Ibom State REC as one of the
\nINEC officials that the party was not comfortable with.<\/p>\n

According to a statement issued by its Convener, Dr. Kazeem Adekunle,
\nthe ETG reminded Nigerians the patriotism displayed by Igini during
\nthe ill-fated August 2018 Rivers State bye-election, in which APC
\nwanted its candidate declared winner despite that the election was
\nmarred by violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group monitored that election and saw brazen display of violence
\nby miscreants and hoodlums accompanied by heavily armed security
\npersonnel in uniform. Voting activities were disrupted; election
\nmaterials were destroyed while others, including smart card readers
\nand ballot boxes were carted away and many electoral officials
\ninjured. It took the courage and boldness of Igini and two other INEC
\nRECs for the APC not to benefit from that electoral malfeasance,\u201d ETG
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

The group said it was even more worrisome that the APC in Akwa Ibom
\nState was threatening to boycott elections in the State if Igini was
\nnot removed as REC, noting that \u201cwhen one out 100 students is
\ninsisting on the removal of an examiner, it should be clear to
\ndiscerning minds that such a student has hiding agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

While condemning the invitation of some officials of INEC by the
\nDepartment of State Services, the ETG said it was becoming obvious
\nthat the ruling party, APC was out to use instruments of the federal
\ngovernment to force INEC to do its biddings and work against the
\ninterests of Nigerians.<\/p>\n

It warned that any attempt to manipulate the elections will spell doom
\nfor the country, demanding that no official of INEC should honour
\ninvitation from DSS, EFCC and other agencies of the federal government
\nuntil after the elections.<\/p>\n

Calling on the INEC Chairman to do everything within his powers to
\nensure credibility of the Saturday elections, the ETG said \u201cProf
\nYakubu has the rare opportunity to either write his name on gold and
\nmake himself a reference point for good before the entire world or
\nsoil his name forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has been urged to focus more on the conduct of free, fair and credible elections on Saturday, rather than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFocus on conduct of credible elections, ignore APC calls on Akwa Ibom REC, Group counsels INEC boss - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/focus-on-conduct-of-credible-elections-ignore-apc-calls-on-akwa-ibom-rec-group-counsels-inec-boss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focus on conduct of credible elections, ignore APC calls on Akwa Ibom REC, Group counsels INEC boss - 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