Just in: INEC suspends NASS elections in Port Harcourt

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended National Assembly elections in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area Rivers State.

The Commission also warned persons bullying and threatening the State Presidential Election Collation Officer and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke, Prof. Teddy Adias, to steer clear of the professor.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Johnson Sinikiem, said the senatorial election in Port Harcourt and PHALGA II House of Representatives poll was suspended following alleged irregularities.

Sinikiem, who spoke at the INEC Collation Centre in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the commission would conduct thorough investigations to decide the next line of action.

On the threat to the life of Adias and his family members, HE explained that persons angry with the professor were ignorant of the functions of the collation officer.

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Sinikiem said: “I want to urge the public and our critical stakeholders to know that the function of a state collation officer is just to collate results of elections conducted at the various Local Government Areas of the State.

“He is not a supervising presiding officer nor a presiding officer that conducts elections at the polling units. He is only collating results already collated at the local government area level that cannot be changed except by the verdict of an Election Tribunal.

“I urge those concerned, to seize forthwith in unleashing threats because his job does not involve accreditation, voting, counting, computation, validation of votes by parties at primary and secondary levels”.

Sinikiem called on security agencies including the Commissioner of Police and Co-Chairman, the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security to help in halting attempts to truncate the collation of presidential election results in River.