THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has rejected the call of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to redeploy the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Anugbum Onuoha, ahead of the September 21 governorship election.
Recall that the opposition party had demanded Mr Onuoha’s redeployment over his blood relationship with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
Edo State PDP chairman, Anthony Aziegbemhin, in a protest letter addressed to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, on Thursday, said the ties between Messrs Wike and Onuoha are too close to ignore.
“The ties between these two are too close to ignore as they share familiarities and are also close associates,” he had said.
He added that, “the said Edo REC is a cousin to the Minister of the FCT, Mr. Wike.
“He also served as a former Commissioner and Special Adviser for Lands, Survey, and Housing to Mr. Wike during his tenure as Rivers governor,” the letter added.
While speaking in a recent interview on Channels TV on Friday, Mr Wike admitted his relationship with the embattled REC.
He, however, dismissed allegations of plotting to use his brother to rig the election of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
But responding to the demand of the PDP, the chief press secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, urged the party to focus on the election process.
He said: “The REC for Edo State will not be redeployed. The governorship election will be conducted on 21st September 2024 in 4,519 polling units, not in the REC’s office.
“In the same manner, polling unit results will be declared by the respective presiding officers after the voting, ballot sorting, and counting processes, in the presence of accredited party agents and other stakeholders.
“The PO will also take a picture of the PU result in each polling unit with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, and upload the same to the INEC Result Viewing portal.
“This process is not the same as electronic voting or electronic transmission and collation of results.
“The IReV is for transparency purposes. The Nigerian constitution does not yet recognise electronic voting. Copies of the PU results will be given to accredited party agents,” he said.