Posted by The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refuted a statement made by its Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu tried to rig the governor’s race in Abia.
According to an earlier report, Nnenna Oti, the returning officer, claimed that Yakubu personally called her and gave her some guidelines to follow when collating the results of the governorship election, but she ultimately made the decision that the will of the Abia voters would not be overturned while she was in charge.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Rotimi Oyekanmi refuted the assertion, claiming Yakubu never called the returning officer to give her instructions.
The statement said;.
The Returning Officer, however, preferred the official communication regarding the Commission’s decision to postpone the collation of results in Abia State. The Chairman then ordered that, in the interim, the soft copies of the Commission’s letter be sent right away to the Administrative Secretary of Abia State and the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Enugu State.
The Administrative Secretary was instructed to read aloud the letter’s contents in front of representatives from political parties, observers, the media, and security personnel at the Collation Centre by the Abia State Returning Officer.
This is what is currently being naughtily misconstrued as a directive to the Returning Officer on some fictitious criteria that are at odds with the approved standards. There is nothing comparable.
In fact, the letter’s content is largely identical to the Commission’s press release from Monday, March 20, 2023, which has since been posted to the Commission’s social media platforms and is already available to the public.
“The story is fake news, so the general public should ignore it. “.