INEC Suspends Election In Yenagoa, Esan, Igueben

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the election in the Esan and Igueben federal constituency in Edo State.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this at an election briefing on Saturday.

According to him, the suspension was due to the omission of the logo of a party on ballot papers.

The electoral chief said the poll in the federal constituency will now hold on March 11 alongside the governorship and state assemblies’ polls.

Yakubu said, “In Edo State, we had a situation that we handled yesterday (Friday), one of the parties whose acronym is on the score sheet but the logo is not on the ballot paper in a federal constituency.

“After meeting with the stakeholders, a decision was taken since the materials are intact. So, we have suspended the election for Esan North, Esan South and Igueben.

“The ballot papers will be reprinted and elections will now hold with the constituency elections in the next two weeks.”

INEC also suspended the election in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital over electoral violence and the absence of voting materials.

Yakubu said, “We have a situation in Bayelsa, particularly in the capital, Yenagoa where in four wards – Wards 4, 6, 8 and 14, involving 140 polling units in the process was disrupted.

“We remobilised security. The situation is calm for us to proceed with the process but the youth corps members expressed some apprehension about going back.

“We met with the security agencies and we have decided that voting will take place tomorrow (Sunday) morning.”

Yakubu assured Nigerians that INEC is determined to ensure that no Nigerian is disenfranchised.

INEC had also on Friday suspended the senatorial election in Enugu East Senatorial District over the killing of the Labour Party (LP)’s senatorial candidate for the district, Oyibo Chukwu.

The commission said the party will replace the deceased candidate and the election will now hold in the district on March 11.

(TNT)