Violence forces INEC staff to boycott Rivers poll

Some ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Ikwerre and Asari Toru local government areas (LGAs) of Rivers state boycotted the legislative rerun election on Saturday over fear of violence.

The election is holding in three senatorial districts, 12 house of representatives constituencies, and 22 of the 32 state assembly constituencies.

A resident of of Ikwerre, who does not want to be named, told TheCable that the officials abandoned electoral materials on the roadside, saying their safety was not guaranteed.

In Buguma, headquarters of Asari Toru, voters were still awaiting INEC officials in many polling units as of the time of filing this report.

There have also been incidents of violence in different parts of the state, including heavy shootings at Akuku Toru local government, hijacking of electoral materials in Bonny local government, and pockets of skirmishes in Eleme local government, where a vehicle was set ablaze.

The security situation also made some voters shun the poll but Ahmad Muhammad, spokesman of the Rivers state police command, said there was no cause for alarm.

“We are in touch with the various divisional police officers and they have not made any reports suggesting that there is uneasy calm,” he said.

“So far so good for now. We are monitoring the situation. The command has also done all deployments to the polling units and other areas.”

In Tai and Bonny LGAs, voters boycotted the exercise over the claim that fake result sheets were  in circulation, an allegation that INEC denied.

“The attention of INEC has been drawn to allegations that fake result sheets are being deployed for election in Akuku-Toru, Tai and Bonny local government areas,” the electoral body said in a statement.

“The allegations are untrue and they should be discountenanced. Voters are advised to come out and exercise their franchise peacefully.”

While accreditation of voters and voting commenced simultaneously in some polling units in Oyigbo local government, the exercise had yet to commence in some places in Port Harcourt, capital of the state.

According to NAN, election materials arrived ward 16, unit 17 in Obio/Akpor local government area 10:18am, while accreditation and voting started an hour later.

At ward 2, units 1, 10, 13 and 14 Rumudara, still in Obio/Akpor, INEC officials arrived at 10:30am and accreditation commenced immediately, even though there was low turnout of voters.

Nyesom Wike, governor of the state, voted at Ward 9 unit 7, around Whimpy junction in Obi Akpor, while Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, also voted at ward 8, unit 14 in Ubima, Ikwerre LGA.

Both men voted amid tight security.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) have been trading blames over the widepread violence recorded during the election.