In respect to the ongoing election petition hearings, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stated Thursday that the commission has delivered all the materials requested by political parties that applied through the necessary procedure.
Festus Okoye, the national commissioner for voter education at INEC, debunked the myth that not all subpoenas were responded to when he made an appearance on the Channels Television program “Politics Today.”
He stated that in order to avoid being perceived as meddling and in advance of the three governorship elections in November, the commission must permit the election petitions tribunal to begin its job.
The INEC chairman, according to Okoye, has responded to every subpoena issued to him.
“The commission is a constitutional body and public trust that belongs to all Nigerians, and the commission does not have a personal interest in what is being heard by the various election petition tribunals,” he said.
It is untrue that the commission has not responded because the law requires it to provide facts and numbers about the election it conducted before the various election petition tribunals.
There are procedures and steps to follow if you want to issue a subpoena… We provided all the records they required to pursue their petitions, and we responded to all subpoena directed at the electoral commission and resident electoral commissioners that followed the rules and procedures. As a result, we did not disobey any subpoena and we produced all the records, he continued.
Speaking about the technical difficulties with publishing the election results for 2023, he added, “We informed Nigerians there were difficulties with uploading the results… Every voting location has representatives from each party. I have a little trouble understanding why they are depending on the IREV data.
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