INEC to commence collation of election results in Rivers State

After a thorough review of investigation into what transpired at Rivers State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it would soon continue the collation of election results in the state. Although at the point of this report, no dates has been fixed for the commencement of collation of election results, the commission said it would inform the public when commencement of the electoral process in Rivers State on 20^th March, 2019.

On 10^th March, 2019, INEC suspended the collation of results and other electoral activities for Rivers State governorship and House of Assembly elections following a report of widespread violence and other forms of intimidation that prevented electoral officers from seamlessly performing their duties as election umpires in Rivers State.

According to INEC, Nigerian soldiers and some other groups of armed gangs stormed the Rivers State INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt which made it difficult of INEC officers to carry out their duties as a result of the ensuing charged atmosphere which lead to the halting of all electoral activities in the state till further notice on 10^th March, 2019.

The halting of collation and other electoral activities by INEC in the state had sparked accusations and counter accusations from different political parties especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Africa Action Congress (AAC) with each accusing INEC of working with their opponents to undermine the will of the electorates.

The APC who do not have a candidate running for the governorship seat as a result of having their candidate disqualified in a legal dispute said the PDP was already losing the election to the candidate of the AAC, a party many state residents weren’t familiar with until days to the election.  The APC threw their weight behind the AAC governorship candidate after the APC governorship candidate was disqualified. The Minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, urged party loyalists to vote for the AAC candidate.

Party loyalist from the APC and the AAC claimed that early results from some local governments indicate that the AAC governorship candidate was winning some local governments with very wide margins. This report was countered by the PDP which accused the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi of using soldiers to intimidate electorate and to fabricate election results.

The intimidation of electoral officers and electorates by soldiers in Rivers State during the elections was reported by some local and international observers.  This report of intimidation of electoral officers and electorates by soldiers was rejected by the Nigerian Army saying that those found disrupting electoral activities in Rivers State were not soldiers but thugs in military uniforms. This claim was however undermined by videos clips showing troops alighting from military branded vehicles and proceeding to the INEC office in Port Harcourt.

On Friday 15^th March 2019, INEC  said a panel of inquiry set up to investigate what transpired in the state had submitted its report, and found that elections indeed took place for governorship and House of Assembly seats in Rivers State on 9^th March, 2019. The report also stated that soldiers were actually found to have disrupted the collation exercise in the state, especially in the capital where the presence of soldiers and thugs charged up the atmosphere which prevented the electoral officer to continue with the collation exercise.

The commission has stated that to commence electoral process in the state they will liaise with security agencies especially the Nigerian Army to peacefully work out a date to commence the electoral process in the state. The commission has also stated that before the collation process was disrupted results for governorship from seventeen (17) out of the twenty-three (23) local governments in the had been collated while  twenty-one (21) out of the thirty-two (32) seats at the House of Assembly had also been collated.

A detailed report from the INEC  on the position of the commission on Rivers State 9^th March, 2019 elections is as stated below:

1. On the 10th of March 2019, the commission suspended all electoral processes in Rivers State having determined that there was widespread disruption of collation of results of the elections conducted on the 9th day of March 2019.

Subsequently, the commission set up a fact-finding committee to assess the situation and report back within 48 hours.

2. The commission met on the 15th day of March 2019 and considered the report of the committee and established the following:

• That the governorship and state assembly elections took place in most of the polling units and results were announced.
• That results from 17 local governments out of 23 were available and are in the commission’s custody.
• That the declaration and returns for 21 state constituencies out of 32 were made prior to the suspension.
• That collation centres were invaded by some soldiers and armed gangs resulting in the intimidation and unlawful arrest of election officials thereby disrupting the collation process.

3. Consequent upon the foregoing, the commission: Expresses its displeasure with the role played by some soldiers and armed gangs in Rivers State disrupting the collation process and attempting to subvert the will of the people.

• Is committed to expeditious completion of the collation process where results of the elections have been announced.
• Will engage the security agencies at national level and the inter-agency consultative committee at the state level to demand neutrality and professionalism of security personnel in order to secure a peaceful environment for the completion of the elections.
• Will also engage with key stakeholders in Rivers State with a view to ensuring a smooth and peaceful completion of the process.
• Will issue detailed timelines and activities for the completion of the election on Wednesday, March 20th, 2019.

Festus Okoye,
National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee
March 15, 2019.