The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Enugu State, says it may seek legal redress over false allegations levelled against the commission and security agencies during the conduct of 2019 general elections.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Emeka Ononamadu, said this during the Post 2019 General Elections Media Briefing held on Tuesday in Enugu.
Ononamadu decried political rascality displayed by some political groups and political gladiators during the elections in the state.
According to him, during the conduct of the election, certain political groups effortlessly tried to falsely label INEC, Security agencies and Central Bank of Nigeria in their attempt to find one way or another to scuttle the electoral process.
“However, the maturity exhibited by electorate of the state was enough to send their plans to the cleaners.
“I am also studying those wide allegations for possibilities of seeking legal redress because it is not only politicians that can always take INEC to court, INEC and its staff equally have a name to protect.
“We are not going to tolerate reckless allegations that cast aspersions on our democracy and electoral process.
“We are moving toward a direction when nobody will get away with any unsubstantiated allegation that robs off on the credibility of an election,’’ he said.
He also announced that all elections leading to all contestable positions in Enugu State had been successfully completed, adding; “there is no election either at the federal or state level that is outstanding’’.
“While we had teething logistics challenge during the Presidential election, we overcame all of those challenges during the governorship election.
“We also became first state that has all 4,145 polling location to open before 8 a.m. on the Election Day.
“The only snag, which I did not know why the main reason was the voters apathy with less than half a million voters to vote out of the 1.9 million registered voters and over N1.7 million voters with PVCs.’’
The REC thanked the residents, traditional rulers, security agencies, National Youth Service Corps, media, civil society organisations, political parties, management and staff of INEC for their support during the elections.
He also disclosed that the commission would commence the issuance of certificate of returns to elected national law officers in Abuja on Thursday.
