The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)in State has warned the social media against declaration of election results before official announcement by the commission.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud, stated gave the warning, yesterday, during an interactive session with stakeholders in Birnin Kebbi .
“Fake news is now a trend and can mar our efforts to ensure free, fair and credible elections.
“We urge you to be wary of social media that may be posting results before official declaration, as only INEC’s returning officers at wards,local governments and state levels have the statutory authority and power to declare the results,” he said.
Mahmud explained that 1,938,171 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were received from INEC headquarters, out of which 1,860,239 had been distributed, while 77,932 PVCs remain unclaimed.
The REC disclosed that Kebbi has 225 wards, 1,345 voting points and 2,398 poling units in the 21 local government areas of the state.
Meanwhile, Plateau State governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP), Nura Tanko Waziri, has called on the Federal Government to reimburse N91 billion to registered political parties, so as to reduce the loss and pains incurred from the postponement of the last Saturday’s elections.
He noted that political parties and candidates had mobilised their members and disbursed resources with the hope that the election was going to hold, only for INEC to postpone it at the eleventh hour.
Also, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Bauchi South senatorial district.
Ibrahim Zailani, has described the postponment of the polls as “highly regrettable”
Zailani noted that if countries such as China and India, with populations of two billion and one billion, respectively, could organise smooth elections, it is regrettable that Nigeria, with a population of less than 200 million people, finds it difficult to conduct a smooth election.
On its part, the Human Right Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has enjoined the INEC not to postpone the rescheduled Saturday’s presidential election for any reason.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, who spoke yesterday, in Abuja, accused the elecoral body of gambling with the future of Nigerians..‘
‘This is a huge fallacy and this tells you that the leadership of INEC are the very saboteurs that are gambling with Nigeria’s political stability, they must be named, shamed, arrested and prosecuted should they attempt to undermine the election process any futher,” he said.
