INEC Washes Hands Off Imo Supreme Court Judgement

By Kelechi Umunna

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has told stakeholders in Imo state to hold the Supreme Court responsible for the reversal of the 2019 governorship election result which the Commission declared in the state.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Prof. Francis Ezeonu, who stated this in Owerri on Monday during a sensitization exercise organized by the Commission to intimate the people on the expansion of access to polling units, however called on the stakeholders to press upon the National Assembly for a legislation to bar the apex court from usurping its functions of collating, tabulating and announcing election results.

Earlier in his reaction, the Imo state secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, Hon. Ray Emeana, queried INEC for its inability to defend the outcome of a transparent 2019 governorship election which it conducted in Imo state, and also wondered if INEC would claim to be neural even when it declared a political party winner without a candidate in the Imo North senatorial by-election.

Many other political leaders and stakeholders took turns to air their grievances, all of which pointed out a looming political apathy in the state. The belief is that electoral votes may no longer count, as a few political actors only compromise the judiciary to upturn the collective wishes of the people.