Again elections in some parts of Akwa Ibom State have been cancelled over alleged widespread violence.
OsunDaily News reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) disclosed the development on Saturday following it’s inability to hold supplementary polls for Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency of the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr Cyril Omorogbe, disclosed the development to pressmen in his office in Uyo.
According to him, the supplementary election was cancelled in all the 17 polling units where the rerun took place as a result of snatching of electoral materials, including the Bi-Modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).
Omorogbe, who described the elections in the area as abysmal, revealed that he received reports of violence all through the 17 polling units in that local government area.
The Akwa Ibom REC said “Good evening gentlemen, I just want to give a brief update on what has happened today.
“We had about four local government areas where we conducted elections and one major one was Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency
“We were there this morning early enough and around 8:30am, polling units were opened. A couple of hours after we opened the polls, I received a call that the BVAS machines were hijacked
“So, I knew from then that we were in for a tough time. Two hours after that, I received another report that was not good. So, the election in Ikono/Ini federal constituency has been cancelled.
“They were fighting all through the local government areas in the 17 polling units. I received a report from the collation officers that were supposed to collate the result in the area the election did not hold.
“The whole exercise of those 17 polling units was either hijacked, disrupted, or people were being chased and other things of that nature.
“From the collation officers on the field who were supposed to collate the results, they all came back and have written reports and the result sheets they were supposed to fill are all here. Apparently, there was no election for now.
“On the other constituency of Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency, I am still expecting to hear from them, but I believe at this point, things went well. Perhaps, in the next couple of hours, the result will be declared.”
Speaking about the corp member, who was shot, Omorogbe pointed out violence led to the shooting of one of the corps members in the leg.
He added that “The corps member was shot, he is still in the hospital. We’ve done our best in terms of providing money to make sure he is treated well. I strongly believe he will be okay.
“He was shot in the leg, he has gone through surgery. So far, I do believe he is actually recuperating at this point.”
