The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday said it was ready to conclude the suspended re-run parliamentary elections in Rivers. However, it said it must be subject to conducive environment for the exercise.
The Deputy Director of Voter Education and Publicity in the Commission, Nick Dazang, who spoke in reaction to the December 10 deadline given to INEC by the National Assembly on Wednesday, November 2 to conduct the outstanding polls in Rivers, said a conducive atmosphere was critical to the assignment.
The Senate had threatened to suspend plenary if INEC failed to meet the deadline.
Dazang said that it was unfortunate that in spite of the Commission’s readiness for the elections, some stakeholders in the state were not cooperating by helping to create peaceful environment needed for conduct of the exercise.
He said that as a sign of good faith, INEC had engaged stakeholders in several meetings in Abuja and in the state on the issue.
He said: “In fact, at a point we articulated a road map of activities that would climax with the National and State Assembly elections in the state.
“Sadly, on the eve of the proposed schedule for the conduct of the elections in that state, our office in one of the local government areas of the state was razed down.
“In spite of this, we have remained resolute in our determination and have continued to engage with stakeholders.
“Our determination is further underscored by the fact that recently, the commission directed all relevant departments to submit their inputs for the Rivers National and State Assembly elections.”
The deputy director said that INEC’s initial plan was to conclude all suspended elections before the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo States in September and November, respectively.
He added: “This was however truncated by the spate of violence particularly in Rivers and the inflammatory rhetoric of some stakeholders.”