The Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom, Mike Igini, on Friday reprimanded the legal team of the All Progress Congress in the state for alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission refused to allow it to inspect election materials.
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The APC legal team led by Victor Iyanam, had threatened to charge INEC for contempt of court over its alleged refusal to obey the order of the Tribunal Chairman, Justice W. Akanbi.
But speaking at a briefing with journalists, Igini expressed dissatisfaction with the legal team, describing its action as purely mischievous and directed to draw cheap sympathy from members of the public.
He said, “The lawyer of the APC governorship candidate, Nsima Ekere, came to the commission with an order from the tribunal for the first time on Thursday April, 25, 2019. He did not come back again to inspect the materials on that day.
“He came to inform the commission of the order and to get it to prepare for the inspection. The lawyer was told to return the next day so that INEC legal team could jointly work out a schedule for the inspection. He did not return; he only came back on Tuesday, April, 30, 2019.
“But between Thursday April 25 and Tuesday April 30, 2019, before we could work out the modalities for inspection, the legal team for Ekere led by Iyanam had convened a press conference accusing INEC of denying them access to election materials and threaten contempt against the Resident Electoral Commission.
“Other than pure mischief or perhaps trying to gain illicit sympathy from some quarters for political reasons, we do not understand the motive of the APC legal team.”
Speaking further, Igini said INEC was committed to electoral accountability and had nothing to hide, adding that the commission could not afford to deny anyone with a valid order from the tribunal access to election materials.
Iyanam had on Tuesday threatened to sue the INEC for contempt over alleged refusal to comply with the tribunal’s order for inspection of materials.
He argued that the excuses given by INEC on logistics and lack of adequate staff were untenable and calculated to frustrate the efforts of the APC governorship candidate at the tribunal.
He said in the letter that, “We are hereby distressed by the delay, refusal and unwholesome excuses by your office for non-compliance.
“Some of the excuses include non-availability of the materials as a result of transport challenges in bringing them from the local government areas and inadequate staff to carry out those duties.
“The excuses have variously continued to be untenable in the light of the short period of time to prove our case at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“We regret to state that your employees appear to be acting the script of the People Democratic Party and now behave as though they are taking instructions from you.
“This is therefore to request you to expedite action to enable us to pursue and fulfil the order of the tribunal without any further delay.”
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