PRESS RELEASE
Our attention has been drawn to reports in the media that a staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and two others were reportedly apprehended in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti state yesterday while they were allegedly tampering with the Voters’ Register. The report further alleged that the INEC staff and his fellow travelers were deleting names of voters believed to be loyal to the Action Congress (AC)
The Commission has since investigated the said report and wishes to state as follows:
1) What the INEC staff and his colleagues were doing was not tampering with, or deleting the names of any registered voter but indulging in the Continuous Voter Registration exercise which is on-going in all the 774 local government areas in the federation;
2) That even though the said exercise is on-going, the list of those under the Continuous Voter Registration regiment registered (before the re-run election) will be consolidated next year and not used for the re-run election;
3) That in the course of an exercise involving the registration of voters, only personal data and biometrics are captured. It is therefore not possible for any list to show the partisan disposition of the registrant(s);
4) That the Commission is taking precautionary measures to ensure a hitch-free governorship re-run in Ekiti state;
5) That the Commission’s resolve to provide a level playing field for all contestants in the impending governorship re-run election in Ekiti state remains unshaken; and that
6) The Commission enjoins all stakeholders in the electoral process in Ekiti state to guard against issuing statements that are capable of unnecessarily heating up the polity.
Signed:
Deputy Director
Public Affairs,
UMENGER, I.E.
