INEC cancels Ini/Ikono Fed. Constituency rerun election over violence

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cancelled Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency supplementary election, held on April 15, in Akwa Ibom State, following reported incidences of violence.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Dr. Cyril Omorogbe, disclosed this in Uyo, saying that the election was cancelled in all the 17 polling units where the rerun held as a result of snatching of electoral materials, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

He also said a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member on election duty was shot.

He said: “We had four councils where we conducted elections, and the major one was Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency.

“We opened polling units at about 08:30 a.m. A couple of hours after, we opened polls. I received a call that BVAS machines were hijacked.

“So, I knew, from then, that we were in for a tough time. Two hours after, I received another report that was not good. So, the election in Ikono/Ini Federal Constituency has been cancelled.”

“They were fighting all over the council, and in the 17 polling units in the area. I received a report from the collation officer that was supposed to collate the result in the area that election did not hold.

“The whole exercise in those 17 polling units was either hijacked or disrupted. People were being chased.

“The collation officers in the field, who were supposed to collate results, all came back and wrote reports.

The result sheets they are supposed to fill out are all here. Apparently, there was no election for now.

“Regarding Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency, I am still expecting to hear from them. I believe at this point things went well. Perhaps, in the next couple of hours, the result will be declared.”

Omorogbe expressed regret over the corps member, who was shot in the leg while on duty.

“He is still in the hospital. We’ve done our best in terms of providing money to make sure he is well treated. I strongly believe he will be okay.”