Rivers rerun: INEC investigative panel accuse security operatives of hijacking material, intimidating voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Administrative Inquiry Panel has accused security operatives involved in the December 10, 2016 Rivers rerun election of electoral fraud.

The five-man panel led by INEC National Commissioner, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, which was set-up to look into the rerun election in the state accused security operatives of allegedly “hijacking, willful obstruction, snatching of materials and intimidating voters” during the process.

Ibeanu-led panel blamed security agencies “for the failure of aspects of the elections in some local government areas.”

According to the Inquiry panel, most of the security operatives involved in the rerun election were partisan.

The report reads, “One of the low points of the Rivers re-run elections of December 10, 2016 was the flagrant intervention of security operatives in the process. This was widely identified by staff of the commission and independent observers alike as one of the major factors that led to the failure of the process in some local government areas.

“There were too many security agencies involved in the process outside the framework of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES). It was not clear whether many of them were acting as part of their various organisations or as groups and individuals serving political interests.

“Most importantly, many of them showed profound political partisanship. Ironically then, security operatives, who were expected to protect the process, turned on it. There were reported cases of wilful obstruction of the process by security operatives, including snatching of materials and intimidating voters. In other cases, they refused to accompany and protect men and materials for the elections.

“But the most mind-boggling were cases of hostage taking, hijack of materials and physical attacks on INEC officials perpetrated by security operatives. Of singular note was a certain policeman named Akin Fakorede, who ostensibly is a commander of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) in Rivers State. Mr. Fakorede first tried to lure INEC staff to travel with him from Porth Harcourt to Emohua LGA under the pretext of enabling them to collate results. But for the intervention of National Commissioners, we suspect that he would have put our staff in harm’s way.”